Cleo
by SwiftDragonfly
Summary: Cleo Bacchus's father is a villain, and unfortunately, she inherited his quirk. If she uses it to its full strength, then everyone will know that they are related, and she'll be expelled. While attending UA with her fellow someday heroes, she must always keep a smile on her face, and act like everything is okay. At least, with everyone except for the cursing pyromaniac. Bakugouxoc
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** Hello! A few warnings before you start reading: there is mention of rapey things and sex, but neither are described in detail, hence not being rated M. There is also violence written into the stories, and lots of drama!

Writing with characters that are only fourteen years old was super weird, and I have this dumb thing where in my writing, there needs to be a pairing with the main character. If the characters weren't so young, I probably would have written out Cleo and Katsuki's relationship a bit more. I've also been drawn to having an OC with villain parents- not sure why.

Other side notes: I haven't read the manga, so some of the information will be a bit wrong! I also only watch the show sporadically with my bf, so that'll also contribute to some of the info being off. This takes place after the recent season 3 finale.

**Added Author's Note (added on 1/24/20): **changed ranking from "T" to "M" since reviews for this story have been so weird, compared to my usual stories. This is a weird/silly fanfic that I put a lot of time into. Some of the story parts don't get resolved, but part of that is that the resolution to those things felt so obvious, predictable, and straightforward, I lost interest in writing it. I also prefaced above that some elements would strictly be wrong, not out of malice for the characters or anything, but just because writing characters so young didn't vibe with my writing style and I don't know everything about the BNHA canon. Fanfics are my way of experimenting with writing styles for my books, so they're not necessarily going to be typical fanfics in nature. Please read author's notes before reviewing.

**Summary:** Cleo Bacchus's father is a villain, and unfortunately, she inherited his quirk. If she uses it to its full strength, then everyone will know that they are related, and she'll be expelled. While attending UA with her fellow someday heroes, she must always keep a smile on her face, and act like everything is okay. At least, with everyone except for the cursing pyromaniac. Katsukixoc, bakugouxoc

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_U.A. High_

Cleo smiled from the back of the class, momentarily taking in just how tranquil the scene was.

Sitting in class, with her fellow someday heroes, and taking notes. Tenya was as smart as ever, raising his hand every few minutes for a clarifying question. Sometimes the teacher would answer, and sometimes, he'd have one of the other students answer. Izuku and Ochako were usually the ones to raise their hands when Eraser Head looked to the other students.

Sometimes their teacher cuts corners. He seemed to both hate and love teaching.

For their actual training, he was much more interested. When it came to more mundane subjects, that sparkle disappeared from his eyes and he looked absolutely bored out of his skull.

As Cleo looked around, she noticed that Bakugou was similarly disinterested in the lesson plan. He was staring out the window, his red eyes swimming with the usual anger and hurt. Bakugou was always in pain, always angry, and his only outlet was violence.

Cleo had had the misfortune of meeting his mother. Their moms were friends, and when they were younger, Cleo would occasionally go to Bakugou's house. That usually involved Bakugou getting frustrated, his mother yelling at him, making him more stressed, and escalating fights from there.

Bakugou wasn't a pleasant person to be around, but she understood why he was the way he was.

1.

That night, their classmates stayed up a little later than usual. They were all excited for the hero license exam in the coming days.

Bakugou was the exception, hiding away in his room, claiming he was tired.

Cleo sat between Ochako and Sue, her arms spread out behind the couch, and gentle smile on her face.

"I'm so nervous!" Ochako exclaimed, starting another round of nervous chatter.

"So long as we work together, we'll be fine." Tenya assured.

"We can do it. We just need to train and be smart." Izuku said with a determined smirk.

"I'm sure we'll do great." Cleo added confidently.

"That's easy for you to say, your quirk comes naturally to you." Ochako said with a slight pout.

"I've worked hard with my wings, and you've worked hard with your quirk. Your quirk is only as powerful as you make it." Cleo reminded her.

"All of it seems to come so naturally to you. You never seem to struggle." Kaminari commented.

"I struggle, just like everyone, and I'm still learning to be better." Cleo insisted.

"I've never seen you struggle. You're always smiling." Ochako told her.

"My sister makes hero tech, so I had an advantage growing up. I utilize my tools and adapt to circumstances. You have the amazing ability to make things weightless; I just have a pair of dumb wings. If anything, I'm jealous of you guys." Cleo said, shifting the conversation back to them.

She didn't like people focusing on her.

2.

The next day, at the end of school, her teacher asked her to stay afterwards.

On their way out, the students occasionally sent her a questioning look, and she'd shrug in response. She was just as clueless.

One by one, the students left, until it was just Cleo and the teacher.

"Did I do something wrong?" Cleo asked in a soft voice.

"I wanted to ask why you've been holding back." Aizawa said, standing next to the chalkboard and looking her in the eye.

Cleo tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Cleo replied.

"Everyone in this class, at all levels, is challenging themselves to get stronger. They're pushing themselves, using their quirks in new ways, but you seem content in your abilities. You do what's required, but nothing else. If you want to be a hero, you need to do more than reach the status quo." Aizawa said, and a frown tugged at her lips.

Even the teacher.

"How do you want me to push myself?" Cleo asked.

"In training, try new things. Experiment. Don't just stand to the side while other people do the hard part. Use your quirk. In studies, try to actually learn the material, and if it's too easy, read ahead. Instead of settling for a B, go for an A. Do more than the bare basic, because when you're a pro, that won't be enough." Aizawa elaborated.

Cleo gulped down the lump in her throat.

"I'll do my best." Cleo said, summoning her usual smile.

Her teacher nodded, finally dismissing her, and she quickly exited.

Her chest hurt as she walked, thinking about the heavy weight on her shoulders, and the secret she kept from so many people.

If they found out, she could never become a hero.

As she walked, students went past her in a blur. People were excited to go back to their dorms after a long day of school.

When her phone vibrated, she pulled it out of her pocket, and checked the notification.

The Slither gang made another move. They seemed to be slowly getting closer to her city, killing and robbing along the way.

"Hey! What happened?" Ochaco asked as she slid into the vacant spot next to Cleo. She glanced around, finding that no one else from her class had stayed behind.

"He said that I need to push myself more." Cleo replied with a shrug. "Whatever that means."

"You seem really upset by it." Ochaco commented.

Cleo was usually a lot better at hiding her feelings. She did a lot meditation in order to stay at base level.

Apparently that was bad, since the teacher couldn't see when she was frustrated. He couldn't tell that she was being challenged.

"I don't know. I just… I don't know." Cleo admitted lamely.

She trained and she worked hard. She studied, pushed herself, and managed to shove in small amounts of socializing in there.

"Maybe he just wants you to challenge yourself. Instead of doing what comes naturally, work on what doesn't." Ochaco suggested.

_But if I lose my concentration, make one mistake, then I could get someone killed._

_Maybe I can't be a hero after all._

"You're not alone, Cleo. Don't worry, we'll all work together." Ochako said.

After a while of chatting with her, Ochaco and Cleo split off, going their separate ways.

Cleo ended up on the side of the building, hands in her pockets, and leaning against the wall. She held her phone in her hand, her mother's number in the screen, and contemplated her decision.

She could quit. Transfer to the tech class.

That was always an option.

Cleo took a deep breath, calming her nerves slightly, and put the phone in her pocket.

The back of her head met the wall, and she looked up at the sunny sky.

_I'm okay… for now._

3.

The next day, she was paired up with the worst two people in the class: Bakugou and Izuku.

They had a stealth mission, to practice their ability to be quiet and unseen. They were supposed to sneak up on their enemy, overhear certain information, and then return to base camp without the enemy noticing.

About halfway there, she noticed that Bakugou was glaring at her.

"What's with the look?" Cleo asked him.

"You're disgusting." Bakugou replied.

Cleo paused, not expecting such a blunt insult from him. He rarely acknowledged her presence, and out of nowhere, decided to insult her.

"What does that mean?" Cleo asked.

"If you're not here to get stronger, then why the hell are you here? You're a pathetic worm that doesn't have to try. Just skip the fucking grade and get out of my sight, you loser." Bakugou snapped at her.

"What's with all the hostility?" Izuku asked.

"Shut up, Deku!" Bakugou shouted.

"You shut up, we're on a stealth mission. Let's just finish the mission and then you can tell me all about how much you hate me?" Cleo suggested with her usual smile.

"Fuck off, both of you." Bakugou grumbled as he started walking again.

Cleo felt a surge of emotions in her, catching her off guard, and barely held back her quirk from fully activating.

She hadn't felt that urge in so long.

She hadn't felt this kind of anger in so long, and almost immediately, that anger was replaced by fear and horror over what almost transpired.

If she'd lost control, she could have killed both of them before Aizawa reached them.

"Don't worry, Cleo. I'm sure it's nothing personal." Izuku insisted awkwardly.

_I can't do this._

_I can't be a hero. If I get so close to turning just because Bakugou said something rude, what will happen when I deal with real villains?_

The last few hours of classes seemed to slow into a crawl.

She ended up back in her spot from the previous day, back against the wall and phone in her hand outside. This time, she dialed her mother's number, and pressed it against her ear.

After a few rings, her mother picked up.

"I can't do this, mom." Cleo stated, and used all of her strength to just hold back those tears.

"What are you talking about?" Her mother asked.

"If I keep using my quirk, I'm going to hurt someone and be found out. I can't keep doing this. I'm going to transfer to the tech class to be a hero tech like Kagome." Cleo said.

"What happened?" Her mother asked.

"I just… there was a boy. He said some things that upset me, and I almost lost control of my quirk. I don't want anyone else to get hurt, mom." Cleo said, and the tears finally fell.

She remembered all of that blood.

Her mother's scars.

"So you're going to go against the promise you made me nine years ago?" Her mother asked.

Cleo's heart clenched.

"You scarred me for life and promised me that you would be a hero, to make up for all the bad things that your father has done. Are you going to break your promise to me? Is that the type of person you are? Mutilate someone, scarring them for life, and then making promises you don't intend to keep? Next, are you going to run around raping poor women, like your father?" Her mother asked.

Cleo tried to take a deep breath, to calm down.

"N-no." Cleo stuttered.

"Good. Now, which boy made you upset?" Her mother asked.

"I-it's fine, mom." Cleo said.

"Which boy was it? Or do I need to go to your school and talk to your teacher?" Her mother snapped.

"... Katsuki." Cleo said weakly.

"Katsuki? Don't you worry, I'll talk to his mother about this." Her mother said.

"Please don't." Cleo pleaded softly.

"I'll have this sorted out by the end of the day, don't you worry. You're going to become a hero, baby." Her mother said confidently.

Once the call was done, Cleo slid to the floor, arms around her knees, and tried to calm her breathing as the tears fell.

4.

The next morning, when Cleo got to class, she noticed that Bakugou was glaring at the window.

She gulped, knowing full well what his mother was capable of, and the pain she inflicted on him.

Cleo walked over to him, standing next to his seat, but he wouldn't look up at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tell on you."

"Fuck off." Bakugou said in a low voice.

Cleo glanced around the room. Only half of their classmates were there, and they looked tired or distracted.

"If it makes you feel better, I was trying to transfer out of this class. My mom wouldn't hear of it." Cleo said, and at that, Bakugou looked up at her.

"Since when are you so fucking sensitive?" Bakugou asked.

"I've thought about being a tech person for a long time. My sister is pretty well known, so it would be easy for me to get a job that way." Cleo said.

"Of course you're taking the easy way out." Bakugou sneered.

"I'm not going to transfer, so it doesn't matter." Cleo replied.

"If the only reason you're here is because of your mom, then you don't deserve to be here." Bakugou snapped.

_That's fair._

"Coming from the guy that screams about murdering people everyday." Cleo replied.

Bakugou suddenly stood, taking a threatening step forward, and glaring at her.

His hands were balled into fists.

She didn't move, standing perfectly still with her head tall. They were the same height.

"Are you okay, Cleo? What's going on?" Tenya asked, coming over to them.

"Fuck off." Bakugou snapped at him.

"Fighting isn't allowed in the classroom. You know that, Bakugou." Tenya reminded him.

Bakugou sent another glare at Cleo, only a few inches away from her face, and narrowed his eyes.

"We're just having polite conversation. Right, Bakugou?" Cleo asked him calmly.

"Shut up!" Bakugou yelled, and threw a punch at her. She easily leaned back, grabbed his wrist, and shoved his arm into his chest, without letting him fall.

"Polite conversation, right?" Cleo asked.

"Fuck off." Bakugou said as he squirmed out of her grip.

She let go, walked over to her usual seat, and sat down.

Tenya looked between them, trying to figure out what happened.

Cleo and Bakugou both said nothing, pulling out a book to read.

A little while later, after class started, a guest hero walked to the front of the class.

Like their teacher, his clothes were tame. He wore a thick black coat and wide orange scarf, which made him seem much smaller than he was.

"Good morning, students. I don't want to alarm you, but you should be aware that there is a threat coming this way. There is a villain group called the Slithers, and we gained intelligence that they're planning to try and recruit a student at this school. We believe that person is a relative of the group's leader, Demon King.

"I'm the lead investigator on the case. I've been following this group for a while now, and they're very elusive and dangerous. Make sure that you abide by the curfew and never travel alone. I have confidence that that the teachers at this school will keep you safe, but you should still stay vigilant."

Izuku raised his hand.

"Do you have any idea which student they're going to go after?" Izuku asked.

"No, just that they might be related to the gang members. It's also possible that the person they're planning to target is unaware of their relationship to them. Everyone should stay on guard." The investigator warned.

"Most of the people in the group are men, so does that mean that they probably aren't going after girls?" Izuku asked.

"Possibly. We don't know for certain, though." The detective said.

"Do you think they're going after Bakugou again?" Hanta asked.

"Why the hell would they go after me?" Bakugou asked.

"Every other villain is." Hanta replied, and then recoiled at the glare that Bakugou sent their way.

"Their target could be anyone in the school. It may not even be someone in this room. I'm going around to every class today to make the announcement and answer questions." The investigator said.

_He's trying to sniff them out._ Cleo realized, studying him carefully. She wondered what his quirk was.

"Unless you have anything else to add, we should continue our studies." Their teacher announced.

"Thank you for letting me speak. I hope all of you have a good day." He said, gave a polite bow, and then left.

Cleo did her usual meditation to keep her heart and breathing level.

If he was a mind reader, she was done for. If he had the ability to pick up on sweating or heartbeat or whatever, she would be fine.

5.

After class, most of 1-A hung out in the common area of their dorm.

Cleo tried to act like her usual lofty and smiling self. That day in particular, though, she had difficulty.

"Who do you think is going to be targeted?" Kyoka asked the group.

"No way it's someone from our class. No one here could be related to such a high ranked villain like that without us knowing. The school is really thorough with their background checks." Eijiro replied.

"For all we know, it's a distant cousin. Like Jiko said, the student might not even know that they're related." Tenya voiced.

"What's the point in worrying about it? I'm more concerned about the exam coming up." Cleo brought up, effectively derailing the topic of conversation.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to training, and half the group decided that they wanted to start doing group jogging before class. That way, they could exercise outside in a big group, making the activity less dangerous.

While they chatted, Cleo's phone beeped, alerting her to the new notification.

They were getting closer.

6.

The next day, the teacher paired everyone up for hand to hand combat practice. People were encouraged to not focus on using their quirks and instead focus on what would happen if, for whatever reason, they were unable to use their quirks to immobilize their opponent.

Cleo was unlucky enough to get paired with Bakugou.

And he was pissed.

Which is probably why their teacher paired them together. Cleo was a good fighter, kept calm even in the most stressful situations, and wouldn't end up being Bakugou's punching bag. For pairings, she was commonly partnered with him or Todoroki.

Since she wasn't supposed to use her quirk, her wings were tucked away, putting her at a disadvantage. She was used to using her wings as a counter balance in fights like this.

Their sparring started out like normal, practicing the moves that the teacher demonstrated, but then Bakugou went off script.

His knuckles smashed into her cheek, hard enough to send her stumbling back.

"Idiot." Bakugou told her.

"I'm an idiot for assuming you would follow the rules for this exercise?" Cleo asked.

"Villains don't follow rules. You should always be ready." Bakugou said, and he threw another punch at her, which she blocked and redirected.

"Katsuki, Cleo, stick to the exercise." Aizawa shouted.

"Yes, sensei." Cleo immediately replied, and sent a glare at Bakugou.

"Teacher's pet." Bakugou said in a low voice.

"Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Cleo asked him as they went back to their original positions. She pretended to go after him with a fake knife, and he disarmed her in the move they were taught.

"You're only here because of your mom. You shouldn't be here." Bakugou replied, letting her go.

She took a measured step back, gritting her teeth, and tried to hold back her anger.

"What? Did that piss you off?" Bakugou asked with a smirk.

"Just do the dumb exercise, Bakugou." Cleo grit, and tried to focus on her breathing.

"Or else what?" Bakugou asked, and caught the fake blade as she tossed it to him. He lunged at her with the blade, moving fast, and she reacted out of impulse, doing a different move that knocked the blade out of his hand.

"Stick to the move we're going over, Cleo." Aizowa said from the front of the room.

Cleo took another measured breath, feeling that anger and frustration claw their way through her chest and try to escape.

Bakugou picked up the fake knife, fast, and lunged at her again.

She focused on the move they had gone over, but in the process, lost her focus with her quirk.

Pain surged through her back, just below her wings, and she convulsed in pain.

She forced her quirk back.

Mid transformation sent scales and bones through her back, and she forced the half formed wings back inside, stabbing into her rib cage.

She stumbled, struggling to keep her quirk back, and started to fall.

Bakugou caught her, and she pushed him away, falling to the ground.

She focused on stopping her quirk.

"What the hell?" Bakugou asked.

She wanted to stand back up, to walk off the pain, but there was too much stabbing pain spreading through her back, and she was afraid that her quirk would take control if she lost focus.

So she was left on the ground, bleeding out, and trying to ignore him, trying to focus on her quirk.

Aizawa knelt down in front of her, and she flinched when he touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, seeing that he was looking at her wings.

The other students gathered around them.

"I-I'll be fine." Cleo stuttered and shifted to stand, but her arm buckled beneath her, and she used her energy to not cry out in pain.

She felt like someone stabbed her repeatedly and left the daggers in her back.

"The nurse is on her way. Can you tell me what happened?" Aizawa asked her.

"I'm fine." Cleo muttered, and thought back to all the blood from that day.

She promised to be a hero.

She couldn't be a hero if they found out.

She took a deep breath and sat up, careful with her wings, and stood up.

She was about to insist that she was fine, but then she saw all the blood on the ground.

There was no way to get out of going to the nurse.

"What happened?" Aizawa asked.

"... sometimes my quirk is a little weird when I lose focus. It's nothing to worry about." Cleo said with a smile, and kept focusing on her breaths.

She tried to ignore the pain.

"How exactly did your quirk do that?" Aizawa asked skeptically.

"I lost focus. It's nothing, really. It looks worse than it is." Cleo insisted.

"You should have included that in your quirk description when you first came to this school. There was a section for injuries that result from your quirk." Aizawa chastised.

"Sorry. It's so rare that I didn't think to mention it. It's only happened once before." Cleo said with a smile.

7.

When she finally escaped the nurse's office, her class was in the middle of math.

Ectoplasm paused, and looked her way.

Everyone in the class looked at her.

"I heard about what happened. How are you doing?" Ectoplasm asked.

"I'm fine, it looked worse than it was. I'm sorry if I scared anyone earlier." Cleo said with a smile, and addressed the class for the last part.

"Are you going to be okay? That was a lot of blood." Izuku asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. The nurse just advised that I take it easy for the rest of the day." Cleo answered casually. Her wings were tucked in, invisible to the average person. One of the advantages of her quirk was that her wings could fold up and be small, but when she needed them, her wingspan could reach five meters.

"I'm glad to hear you'll be okay. Take a seat." Ectoplasm instructed.

Cleo took her usual seat in the back of the class, behind Bakugou, and accidentally locked eyes with him as she walked.

She couldn't read him, which was unusual. He was either angry or… she didn't know if he felt any other emotions. He was probably angry that she cut into their training time.

She continued to her seat and got out her mathbook and notes.

8.

That night, she stood in her room by her mirror, frowning at the consequence of her earlier actions.

She couldn't slip up like that again. She was lucky that the nurse was busy that day and didn't look too closely.

Cleo technically had a second pair of wings below her normal ones, but they were much more inconspicuous. In her full form, her entire body would be covered in scales, and her internal structure would change as well. Her injuries that day resulted from stopping the shifting process during a dangerous time in that transition.

Hopefully Aizawa and Bakugou didn't see those extra wings.

Glancing at the door again, she did a paranoid look around the room, and let her scaled wings come out.

They looked disgusting, but letting them out relieved some of her pain. The place they nestled in her body rubbed up against the new injuries she'd suffered. Because of the nurse, she should be healed by the next day, but until then, she needed to not activate them as much as possible.

Cleo wasn't exactly a feminine person. She was much more muscular than most girls and tall, too. Growing up people, liked to joke that she was a man, and she never took offense like most girls would. She didn't hold as strong of an association to her gender.

She liked what she liked, and she didn't let her gender dictate when she liked or how she acted.

Her hair was long and thick, braided into hundreds of small braids with the bottom half dyed orange. Her hair was always pulled back in a massive braid, out of the way, and was heavy enough to not bother her when flying.

As her gaze moved back to the disgusting wings, a frown tugged at her lips. Her main set of wings were in the first stage of her transformation, lacking the protective scales, which made them sensitive but look different than her father's quirk. Her wings looked like fleshy pterodactyl wings, hense her hero name, Pterodactyl.

The second pair of wings were covered in blue and green scales, and the dark scales contrasted with her first pair of wings greatly. They stood out.

When she was younger, her mother made her something to keep the smaller wings from coming out. She sewed fabric to go around her, over the second wings, and keep them curled against her back. Cleo had grown used to keeping her wings folded, so she stopped wearing it.

Maybe she needed that again.

She frowned, and looked around the room, wondering if she had her sewing supplies with her. To her luck, the small basket was in the corner of her room, hiding beneath her exercise equipment.

As she thought about making a new binder, her thoughts strayed to her exercise equipment.

Everyone wanted her to work harder.

Maybe she needed to work in more exercise, like Izuku.

A tired sigh escaped her lips, and her wings instinctively moved out, stretching.

As much as she hated how her second wings looked, she loved the feeling of finally stretching them. The sensation was borderline painful, since she never used those muscles, but it was nice to use them nonetheless.

She wished that she didn't have to hold back her quirk so much, so often.

The urge to let her quirk run wild tugged at her heart, but she pushed that feeling down.

She gulped, thinking about the exam coming up.

If people saw her quirk there...

She flopped the UA competition because of that fear. She lost in the one-on-one fights to Ochaco because of that.

She couldn't afford to lose.

She needed that hero licence. If her father came for her, she needed to be able to defend herself.

9.

As they boarded the bus the following morning, one by one, Cleo was grateful for how quickly the nurse's quirk worked. She barely felt any residual pain from the previous day.

With each movement, she was painfully aware of the new binder she wore, and she hoped that it wouldn't get in the way. As she walked, she moved around a little more, checking how the cloth slid and tugged, and what she'd need to work on later. They would be getting there early, so she could hide in the bathroom to do minor fixes.

When she stepped onto the bus, she realized that the only available seats were next to Minetta or Bakugou.

… _risk being sexually harassed, or lose control next to Bakugou?_

She looked between the two, contemplating the pros and cons.

Minetta looked like he really wanted her to sit next to him.

Bakugou glared daggers at her, as if quietly threatening to kill her if she sat next to him.

Feeling a bit more in control than the previous day, Cleo went to the back, and slid into the seat next to Bakugou.

"Fuck off." Bakugou seethed.

"You fuck off." Cleo retorted, and pulled out her phone.

As she slouched, she noticed that the binder restricted her breathing a little. She'd forgotten to test the new cloth while seated.

"Whatever." Bakugou muttered, and turned to look out the window.

Cleo checked her notifications, and tensed when she saw the latest news about the Demon King.

There was an update to their previous crime. They had robbed a bank yesterday, killing three people in the process. The story was updated to include that a woman had been brutally raped and murdered, with her corpse being left in the basement. They'd initially left it out of the report so that they could contact her family.

A cold chill went down her spine as she read on, and she recalled the warning that the investigator had given them.

"I thought you weren't worried about that crap?" Bakugou asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"I like to stay informed." Cleo replied.

"Uh-huh." He replied.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Cleo said, her voicing rising more than intended. She glanced around, finding that she'd gotten the attention of her classmates. "Sorry."

"You're so pathetic." Bakugou said.

She elbowed him, hard, in the stomach, glaring at him.

"Only idiots let their guard down, right?" Cleo asked him.

"No fighting on the bus, you two." Tenya ordered.

"Fuck off or I'll kick your ass, too!" Bakugou shouted at him.

"Just shut up and sit down." Cleo told him.

"Why do you keep picking fights with Cleo? Do you like her?" Minetta asked with a creepy grin.

"Of course not, she's an annoying brat that doesn't deserve to be here. I hate her." Bakugou stated.

"Yet, you keep getting paired with her or sitting next to her." Minetta pointed out.

Bakugou then brought his leg up, angling himself to kick her out of the seat, and she grabbed his leg, pulling, and caused him to flop over and land awkwardly on Sue's lap across the aisle.

He scrambled back to his feet, about to attack Cleo, when Aizawa's voice filled the air, yelling at Bakugou to "shut up and sit down."

Cleo shifted to Bakugou's old spot, next to the window.

Bakugou glared at her, but nonetheless sat down.

She pulled up a phone game on her phone, and Bakugou similarly pulled out his phone, getting distracted by his own mindless game.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Wings

During the first part of the exam, they all got separated.

The field was completely broken up. Everyone went flying.

Cleo hid behind a giant rock, getting her bearings, and listened to her surroundings.

The rocks were still shifting. People were getting their bearings and trying to figure out what was happening.

She could take advantage of that.

Cleo jumped out, and started darting between the rocks, looking for a good target.

There was a short girl, looking away from her, that had an awkward pose and was making small whining sounds. One of her targets was on her shoulder, which would be easy for her to get.

Cleo discretely threw one at her, hitting her mark, and then started moving again, looking for other confused targets until she found her classmates.

0.

Their entire class passed the first part of the exam.

As they waited, Cleo stood near Momo, similarly munching on food.

She was starving.

As she munched away, she looked around at the other heroes, and tried to recognize them.

Some of them seemed somewhat familiar, but most of them didn't. Most of their quirks weren't obvious, and she disliked the strong disadvantage UA had.

Having everyone know their abilities had been hard, and she had gotten frustrated during the first half of the exam because of that.

So many eyes on them.

Someone is going to figure it out, sooner or later.

"You okay?" Momo asked her.

"Yeah, just tired." Cleo shrugged, and shoved another rice ball in her mouth. They were given snacks and drinks, which was nice.

"I think we all did good, all things considered. Our class is younger than all the other competitors, less experienced, and everyone knew our quirks. We did good." Momo insisted, and then added, "It's not like you to be so worried."

Cleo had gotten hit once during the first exam. That was more than she should have been.

She needed to be better if she was going to be a pro.

Seeing all these other quirks in action made her start to understand Aizawa's words more. She needed to push herself if she wanted to go above these other people. If she expected to win her fights, she needed to be stronger than everyone else.

Bakugou, Eijiro, and Kaminari approached them. Eijiro and Kaminari were smiling and happy, meanwhile, Bakugou held his usual aggravated glare.

"I can't believe we all made it!" Eijiro said excitedly.

"You sound surprised." Cleo commented casually.

"I mean, a little. Considering our competition and everything." Eijiro commented awkwardly.

"Did anyone get hit?" Kaminari asked them.

"I didn't, but Cleo got hit once. Balls were being thrown from all directions, and it was pretty chaotic. One got through." Momo said, and instantly, Bakugou's red eyes locked with Cleo's.

"Shut up." Cleo glared.

That glare turned to a smirk.

She threw one of the rice balls at his face, which he easily caught and started eating.

"Attention: part two of the exam will begin shortly." The announcement came from the speakers around the room, and they turned their attention to the screens showing the scene.

Buildings started blowing up.

As Cleo watched, she started running through her first aid training in her head.

She was ready.

As soon as they were allowed to start, Cleo told her classmates that she'd get an aerial view of the damage and bring back anyone that was critically injured, along with direct them towards the most injured.

While soaring above the scene, she made a mental map of the worst places, and on her way, saw that a small child was standing on top of a roof, sobbing loudly.

Cleo landed near the child, careful to be light in how she touched down, and knelt in front of them.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm a hero and I'm here to help. What's your name?" Cleo asked.

"S-S-Steve." He stammered.

"My name is Cleo. Are you injured, Steve?" Cleo asked.

"N-no." He stuttered.

"Good. I'm going to fly you over to a safe area, okay? Do you know where your parents are?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know! We got separated." Steve replied.

"Okay, don't worry, Steve. We'll get you to a safe area and then I'll send some heroes to check this building for your parents. Are you afraid of heights?" Cleo asked.

"A little." Steve replied.

"Alright. I'm going to fly you straight back, then. I'm going to carry you, okay?" Cleo explained, and Steve nodded.

Cleo scooped him into her arms, told him to close his eyes, and leaped. She started to fly, and kept him close to her chest.

As they soared, quickly going over to the small safety area that the other heroes had set up, she heard a person screaming for help within a building.

The building shook.

Cleo paused above the building, eyeing the very unstable rubble, and lowered a little, listening for the cries inside.

It sounded like there was a kid in there.

The building shook and wobbled.

They probably didn't have a lot of time.

"Help!" They kept crying out.

She lowered down, looking inside a caved in portion of the building.

There was a small child on the second floor, and the roof above them didn't look steady.

"I'm going to pick up someone else. I'll try to be fast, don't worry." Cleo assured, and carefully dropped down a little closer, and looked around for anyone else. "Hey, don't worry, kid, is there anyone else down here with you?"

Then, the kid was engulfed in black, and a black blur surged towards her.

She tried to turn, protecting the person in her arms, and fly upwards, but she didn't get far.

Her wings were suddenly on fire, blinding her in pain, and she faltered to the ground. She landed on the roof, briefly blacking out, but then felt the concrete below her shift.

"What's happening!?" Steve yelled at her.

The floor shifted again.

She quickly moved onto her feet and ran to the side of the building.

Her balance was off.

She was in a lot of pain.

She looked behind her, at her wing, and saw that all of the thin webbing was gone, and blood was gushing from the leftover remains of her wings. Only the tops of them, the skeletal structure of her wings, remained.

"What's going on?" Steve asked.

"Don't worry, there's just a change of plan. Nothing to worry about, just close your eyes and count to ten." Cleo said, and feeling the building shift again under her, leaped off of the three story building.

She braced her internal body with her secondary quirk, and when they landed, barely kept her legs from completely buckling.

"You okay?" Cleo asked.

"I'm fine, but what's going on?" Steve asked.

"I'll fill you in once we get to everyone else." Cleo said, and started running, hearing the building next to her begin to crumble.

They needed to avoid getting caught by the debris and dust.

Her feet pounded into the ground, and she wasn't sure if she was going the right direction, but they needed to run.

As the building collapsed, a gush of wind pushed past them, and she barely kept from falling over.

She kept running.

"What happened to your wings?!" Steve yelled, but they were finally within sight of the safety area. Cleo set him down by the group of "injured" people and heroes, and then straightened her posture.

"What the hell happened to you!?" One of the heroes shrieked, their eyes going wide as they looked at Cleo's butchered wings. They were holding bandages in their hand, and seemed to be one of the acting medics.

"If someone can help me wrap my wings, I can go back out there and help people get injured. Even without my wings I can still help." Cleo said.

"But what happened?! There's not supposed to be anything out there that can do that!" Steve yelled at her.

"My wings would disagree with you, Steve. What's left of them, anyway." Cleo said, and her voice trembled without her consent.

Her wings felt so bloody and raw.

"Explain what happened." Steve told her, losing his little kid voice and sounding more authoritative.

"One of the buildings was about to collapse, but I heard someone inside. As soon as I went down to help them, they turned into some kind of… black blur, and came at me. I tried to shield you from it, turning my back to them, and they did something to my wings. I had to run with you before the building collapsed." Cleo explained quickly, feeling her body shake and tremble. She looked back at her wings, her bloody stumps, and realized that not only had she left a trail of blood, but there were a lot of similarly shocked heroes and civilians.

"Cleo, what happened?!" Izuku yelled, carrying someone in his arms.

"Wait, Steve, did I lose points? Did I do something wrong?" Cleo asked, turning back to Steve, who had pulled out his phone.

"I'm calling my boss to see what we should do. Get bandaged up and stay here until I get a response." Steve ordered.

"Cleo, are you okay?" Izuku asked, walking over to her.

"Something attacked and chewed up my wings. I thought there was a kid trapped in a building, and then they attacked me. I barely made it out. Don't worry about me, though, you and the others need to-" Cleo started to say, but then there was a large explosion, and the gust of wind knocked her and several others over.

In the distance, they saw "villains" emerge from the wall, with Gang Orca as the leader.

Cleo moved her wings, intending to fly and help defend the civilians, but instead felt stinging pain.

She was getting light-headed.

"Izuku, help fight them off. We'll start moving these civilians to a safer location." Cleo told him.

"Aren't you going to fight…" Izuku asked, his voice trailing off at the end when he looked at her wings.

"If they get close I can defend the civilians. Make sure they don't get that close. Go." Cleo insisted, and he nodded.

Cleo helped the others heard the injured away from the fight taking place.

1.

When the exam was officially over, Cleo was taken to the infirmary.

The doctors were dressed in blue.

The lights were bright. The walls white.

She was given an anaesthetic for the pain.

She let out a tired sigh as they kept poking and prodding at her numb wings.

She wanted to leave.

The doors opened, and she looked over, seeing Aizawa enter. He looked to her, then to her wings, his eyes wide in panic.

"What happened?" Aizawa asked as he got closer.

"Did I pass the exam?" Cleo asked, looking up at him.

He paused, seeming caught off guard.

"I don't know. What happened?" He asked, turning to someone else.

"We don't know yet. According to the footage, she started to go into a collapsing building, and then a swarm of what looks like bats attacked her. They ate all of the loose skin of her wings. She lost a lot of blood." Someone answered, outside of Cleo's vision.

"It'll give my sister an opportunity to design new wing tech for me. She loves challenges like this. My wings will be better than ever." Cleo said with a smile.

"How did this happen? Did a villain sneak in?" Aizawa asked, ignoring her.

"That's our best guess. Her wings look like tiny teeth gnawed at her flesh. They were quick, precise, and only ate that part of her wing. This was either a coordinated attack or they happened to attack that part because it was the easiest to chew. Given the timing of the building collapsing, it's possible that they were trying to kill her by destroying her wings so that she couldn't fly out." They explained to her teacher.

"Do I get extra credit for getting my wings gnawed off by bats?" Cleo asked.

"No." The person out of her view answered.

She pouted, looking away, and then tried to glance behind her at her wings.

They were still trying to clean and bandage them.

Two people were working on her wings, with masks over their mouth and nose, and they were slow. They didn't say much, but their eyes were expressive. They were disgusted by her.

Just like Bakugou.

… just like mom when I first used my quirk.

"Can you hurry up? I have things to do." Cleo snapped.

"Cleo, be polite. They're trying to help you." Aizawa told her.

"They would be more helpful if they spent more time working and less time gawking. All you need to do is clean them off and apply clean bandages. It's not rocket science." Cleo said, still glaring at the two.

"Should we knock her out?" They whispered to each other.

"Just give me the supplies and I could do it." Cleo said, and started to sit up, but was held back by Aizawa. He pushed down on her shoulder, keeping her from moving, and she couldn't get a good enough angle to push back.

"It's okay, Cleo, calm down. We're going to figure out what happened." Aizawa insisted.

"Just laying around isn't going to help." Cleo said.

"Yes, it is. They can't do their job if they're arguing with you. Do you want my to bring one of your classmates here to keep you company? Maybe Ochako?" Aizawa asked.

"No, I just want to know my score for the test and leave." Cleo grumbled as she laid her head back down on the pillow.

"I'm going to call your mom soon." Aizawa added.

"Is that necessary?" Cleo asked.

"Yes." He replied.

2.

Katsuki let out an agitated sigh from his spot.

He just wanted to get his score and leave.

As he stood on the side of the room, eyeing the other competitors, he locked onto his classmates from UA. They seemed sad, for whatever reason, and there were a lot of concerned looks around the room. A lot of people kept looking at the UA students.

Something felt weird.

He really didn't want to interact with his classmates then, but he was annoyed by all the stares, and giving them death glares wasn't making them stop.

He stomped over to his classmates across the room, and the familiar tense fear flashed through their faces.

"Why the hell are people looking at us?" Katsuki shouted at Deku, since he usually knew what was going on.

Izuku gulped, turning to him, and with his eyes swollen and cheeks red. Tenya was similarly upset, and the others weren't crying, but they were solemn.

"What happened?" Katsuki snapped.

"Cleo… she got hurt really bad." Deku said.

Katsuki tensed, feeling his stomach tighten.

He reached forward, grabbing the front of Deku's shirt, and pulled him forward, glaring daggers at him. Deku cried out in alarm, his puffy cheeks more pronounced than before, and Katsuki barely refrained from killing him.

"Sh-she's in the infirmary now. Something attacked her in one of the falling buildings. Apparently it wasn't part of the exam, and people are trying to figure out who did it." Deku explained quickly.

Katsuki's grip tightened.

"Who did it?" Katsuki asked.

"No one knows." Tenya answered.

"Her wings were badly hurt. I don't know if she'll be able to fly again." Deku said.

Katsuki's brain momentarily shut down.

His muscles tensed, and stomach churned, wanting to throw up.

"Was it like the other day in class?" Katsuki asked.

"No, her wings, they just… there was so much blood. It was as if something ate them." Deku said.

Katsuki tightened his grip on Deku's shirt.

Another hero gone.

Just like that.

Reduced to nothing.

"Who the hell did it?" Katsuki asked in a low voice.

"They're still investigating." Tenya told him.

"Maybe it's the Demon King." Mineta said.

"Then I'll kill him!" Katsuki shouted at the tiny hero, who recoiled at his loud voice.

He was so tired of heroes getting injured around him.

Katsuki's eyes strayed to Izuku's arm, where the scars were.

Katsuki abruptly shoved Izuku away, and looked around at his startled classmates.

"Aizawa!" Ochako said, getting his attention. They entire group turned, seeing their teacher approach. A lot of the room quieted as he got closer.

"How's Cleo doing?" Izuku asked.

"She's going to be okay." Aizawa said, and the group let out a collective sigh of relief.

"What about her wings?" Izuku asked, and the teacher paused.

Katsuki's hands clenched at his sides.

"The damage looks permanent, but the skeletal and muscle structure is in tact, which means that she can replace it later on. It's not uncommon for flyers to lose or damage that part of their wing, so there are a lot of prosthetic options for her." Aizawa said, but they didn't miss the meaning behind his words.

Her wings were damaged.

"Who the hell attacked her?" Katsuki asked.

"We don't know yet." Aizawa replied.

"Was it the Demon King guy?" Katsuki asked.

"I don't know. Possibly. It could have also been one of the other competitors." Aizawa replied.

He wanted to punch someone. Anyone.

He felt like he was going to explode.

"Can we see her?" Tenya asked.

"Not yet. Once she's bandaged up, she'll join everyone outside for the exam results. She's… eager, to leave the infirmary." Aizawa spoke, saying the last part in a weird way.

As the others talked, Katsuki looked around, finding that a lot of people were whispering and staring at their group.

One of their own got attacked. Again.

At least this time it wasn't me.

Anger filled him at the thought, and he scoffed, deciding to walk off and get a snack.

He wished they had attacked him instead.

He would have destroyed them.

3.

Cleo had hoped to be discrete when she joined her classmates outside.

Unfortunately, word spread fast about what happened.

Her wings were bandaged, and a makeshift sling was set up to keep them strapped to her back and unmoving. The sling wasn't very comfortable, but she'd been in a hurry to leave. She hated having so many people staring at her, and repeatedly telling the event had grown weary after the fifth time.

People kept staring and pointing at her.

When she reached her classmates, they turned, and instantly their faces lit up.

"Cleo! You're okay!" Izuku shouted with a grin.

"Of course I am. I told you it wasn't that bad." Cleo said with a calm smile.

"But there was so much damage to your wings. Will you be able to fly with them again?" Izuku asked.

"Of course I will, I just need to change my costume. Now, I can use fancy metal wings, like some of the pros use. Most flyers like me end up losing their webbing over time, so I've planned this for a while." Cleo explained calmly.

"Katsuki was worried about you." Denki said with a sly grin.

"Was not!" Bakugou shouted at them.

Cleo let out a tired sigh.

"Do we know the results yet?" Cleo asked, but then, the announcement for the results started.

They all looked up at the giant screen that filled with names, and instantly, they forgot about Cleo's status. Everyone wanted to know if they passed.

Relief washed over her when she saw her name.

She passed.

Now, if her father came back and attacked her, she could defend herself.

With what? She thought bitterly, and tried to shake away the thought.

What if he sent someone to disable you? What if he's planning to attack you before you can upgrade your tech?

What if all that work for the hero licence was for nothing?

One by one, the people around her started cheering in excitement.

But then, she realized, Bakugou's name wasn't above hers. It went straight from Cleo Bacchus to someone else.

He didn't pass.

My wings are gone.

She smiled for her friends that passed, who jumped with joy and danced together. For the few that didn't pass, she didn't know what to say to comfort them. She didn't know Todoroki well enough to offer words of encouragement, and Bakugou only showed emotions through his fists.

Eventually, they passed out the individual assessments. As people waited for their own, they looked excitedly at their friend's grades, trying to learn about the scoring system and perhaps compare scores.

Once Cleo got hers, she immediately went to the top score, and was unsettled by the number.

5.

She listened around her, and heard Izuku complaining about his low score of 70. Most of the people around her didn't do great.

Cleo looked at the points she lost, and found that she only lost points for not seeking treatment for her wounds right away. Given how much blood she was losing, she should have gotten her wings bandaged up to keep from getting blood everywhere.

Otherwise, her marks were good. Steve had been impressed by the way she handled herself. She remained calm, in control, and stable. Even when she was injured and things went wrong, she improvised, kept Steve (the civilian) calm, and when she was able, explained what she was about to do with Steve before going through with it.

So… Cleo did great.

So why didn't she feel good about it?

Her wings would never be the same again. She would never be able to feel the wind under her wings as she flew through the sky. For the next few months, she would need to test out new wings, train with them, and figure out how to use them in fights.

The new metal would throw her off.

Any extra weight, the way they moved through the air… even walking would be strange. Just the trek here from the infirmary had felt different. She felt lighter.

She lost her ability to fly during this exam.

"What score did you get, Cleo?" Izuku asked as he came over to look at her page, and instantly, his jaw dropped and he screeched. "You got 95 points!?"

"Eeeh!?" Eijiro yelled and came over, snatching the paper from her hands. As their classmates read over the paper, she put her hands in her pockets, and looked around at them.

Briefly, her eyes locked with Katsuki's, who was filled with rage.

She could relate to that.

After a few seconds, he folded his paper and put it in his pocket, and walked away from their group.

She contemplated him for a few minutes, wondering if there was any way to help him.

4.

On the bus ride home, she ended up next to Katsuki again.

He stared out the window, silent, and wouldn't acknowledge anyone.

Whenever someone looked Cleo's way, she would smile and wave. No one had any idea that she felt anything other than optimism about her wings. When someone seemed to get uneasy about her wings, she would make a dumb joke or redirect the conversation.

Katsuki was so quiet.

As the group proceeded to ignore them in the back, chatting excitedly about the exam, Cleo nudged Katsuki's arm.

He was warm.

At first, he didn't respond, so she nudged him again.

His narrowed eyes turned to her, as if they were a missile targeting system locking onto their enemy.

"I'll need to train more with my fucked up wings. How about I help you go over emergency protocols for the next hero license exam and you help me with sparring?" Cleo suggested.

"Fuck off. I don't need your help." Katsuki said, and went back to looking out the window.

His rejection hurt more than it should have.

She shifted, turning her attention to the rest of their class. They were planning to do study sessions and practice sessions to go over emergency procedures.

Your wings will never be the same.

She tried not to think about that.

She glanced around the room, wondering who else would be a good sparring partner, but Katsuki was the only one she wanted to train with outside of class. Even though he kept hurting her feelings, he was the best at hand to hand fighting, and she wouldn't have to smile for his comfort.

With the others, she had to put up a fake smile. With Katsuki… she could be as grumpy and pissed off as she wanted.

That feeling of letting herself be upset was strangely invigorating.

5.

The next morning, Izuku and Katsuki weren't in class.

Apparently, they went out past curfew and wrecked one of the training areas last night.

Not having Bakugou sit in front of her was strange.

6.

After class, she went over to the main tech room.

Her wings, or what was left of them, were still bandaged, but she was able to take them out of the sling and show him the damage.

The metal head quietly listened as she explained what was left of her wings, what they were still capable of, and her ideas. He nodded along, occasionally asking clarifying questions.

"You seem to be handling this very well." He commented after a while.

She paused, not expecting the personal comment.

"I'll still be able to fly. That's what counts." She said with a smile.

"But it won't be the same. No matter how great your new wings are, they won't be exactly the same. You'll have to change your fighting style, adjust the way you fly, and compensate for the change. With the new wings, you may not be able to hide them, like you used to." He pointed out.

"Better sooner than later. Winged heroes commonly have their wings targeted." Cleo pointed out with a smile, trying to hide the sadness she felt.

"But never to this extent. You lost part of who you are. I know that you're trying to look at the bright side of this, which is great, but it's also okay to feel upset over this loss. Injuries like this are hard for every level of hero." He said sympathetically.

"Then I'll just need wings so awesome that I don't miss my old ones." Cleo said with a smile.

"We'll do our best. If you need to talk to someone, I have office hours. You can come talk to me about anything."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." Cleo said, and gave a small wave as she walked off.

A heavy lump formed in the pit of her stomach. She had her right wing come back out of the sling, moved it in front of her, and paused by the side of the empty hallway.

She felt along the tender muscle and bone, which twitched from the new contact, and caressed the bare limb.

It felt so… naked.

Different.

Wrong.

She touched the middle of her wing, where the large thorn was, and touched the dull tip. Even though the tip was smooth, it could puncture someone with enough force. The end of her wing was sharper.

It's more like I have two tails, now. Maybe I should ask the local tail quirk guy for tips.

She almost cried at the thought.

Looking around, she made sure that no one was in the hallway before heading back to the dorms.

When she got there, unfortunately, her mother was there. Bakugou's was, too.

Bakugou's mother was lecturing him on the far side of the room, and Cleo's was near the entrance, like a tiger waiting to pounce on its prey.

Those cold black eyes snapped to Cleo's, her thin lips pursed into a thin line, and carefully plucked eyebrows furrowed together. She wore her nice dress, a blue and black striped one and matching heels.

She nodded her head to the other side of the building, away from the students in the center of the commons. On their way, her mother smiled and waved to the students, who smiled and waved back.

Everyone loved her mother.

They rounded a corner, no longer in sight of the others, and that smile fell.

"What the hell is the matter with you!? How could you let someone butcher you like this!? Do you want your father to kill you!?" She asked in a hush voice.

"No-"

"After he kills you, he'll come after me again. Do you want that? Do you want your mother to be raped again and left to die in an alley?"

"Of course not-"

"Then get your shit together! If you want to be a hero, if you want to make up for what you did to me, for what your father did to me, you have to be a hero. You have to replace All Might." Her mother told her.

"... replace All Might?" Cleo asked in a meek voice.

"The mantle for most powerful hero is open, and you're in the perfect position to do so! I'm going to talk to your teacher about getting special lessons from All Might and all the extra credit you can get. Your sister has contacts for you to train with in your free time. You're going to make up for all of your bad blood by being the greatest hero ever." Her mother spoke, and then, grabbed Cleo's shoulders and turned her.

Cleo held back a cry of pain as her mother reached for her sensitive stubs for wings, using her talon like nails to pull them out.

"I can't believe you would let someone butcher you like this. You have to make up for this. You have to be stronger than you were before. This is disgusting." Her mother continued, pulling her wings out and inspecting them. "You'll need to keep these grotesque tree stumps hidden at all times. I've never seen anything so disgusting, I want to throw up. They're worse than your other wings."

Cleo kept quiet, trying to not take offense or cry from the pain.

"Really, Cleo… I gave up so much to get you here today. Even after what your father did, I raised you. Even though you have his temper and quirk, I loved and cared for you, and this is what you do?" Her mother asked.

Cleo didn't say anything, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Oh, gross! Some blood got on me. I'm going to go wash my hands, where are the bathrooms?"

Cleo pointed to them with her damaged wing.

She shuddered at the small amount of blood on her hand, and hurriedly left.

Cleo looked over at her wing, watching as the tender limb started to turn red.

She took some deep breaths.

Once she felt like she could be around people again, she tucked her wings away, and went out to the main room.

Bakugou's mom was talking to the other students, and Katsuki stood near her, hands in his pockets and glaring at the ground.

Both of their moms were great at that.

"Cleo! It's been too long, come here. You look beautiful!" She exclaimed, and came over to pull Cleo into a hug.

Cleo smiled and chatted with her, acting like her usual self, and pushing down all the guilt.

Once her mom emerged from the bathroom, the two mom's chatted with the students for a while longer, before leaving to talk with the teachers.

"Your mom is really nice, Cleo." Ochako said with a bubbly grin.

"So is your mom, Katsuki. How did you end up like you?" Eijiro asked.

"Shut up!" Katsuki yelled at him, and then turned to Cleo, and added, "At least I'm not crippled."

7.

As the words left his mouth, he didn't expect Cleo to react so stronger.

Katsuki watched in mild intrigue as the pompous student's face fell. Her usually calm face turned to absolute rage, her eyes a raging storm, and she looked like she was about to murder him.

Seeing that look in in her eyes was invigorating, stirring something within him.

He didn't see her wing moving until it smashed into his abdomen, sending him flying across the room and smashing into a wall.

As he fell to the floor, he braced himself, and looked over at her.

She still had that look on her face.

"Sorry. My wings are a little sensitive. Since they don't have the extra weight, it's harder to control how hard they hit." Cleo claimed.

Their classmates looked between them, their mouths forming small 'o's, shocked at the display of power.

No one had seen her lash out like that before. Cleo sometimes snapped at Katsuki when he was annoying her, but nothing like this.

So she has been holding back.

He always knew that she held back her strength, not wanting to hurt anyone, but that was the first time he actually felt it.

And he knew that she was still holding back.

"Are you okay, Katsuki?" Sue asked.

"Tch." He muttered as he stood, still eyeing Cleo.

She looked so pissed.

"You hit like a weakling. You're still pathetic." Katsuki said, and watched her eyes narrow more. "How do you plan to be a hero with those pathetic stumps?"

"At this rate, you're either going to end up in the hospital or expelled for picking so many fights." Cleo commented, and then turned to the gawking classmates, "See you guys in the morning, I'm heading to bed early."

She turned and left, going to the girls side of the dorms, and disappeared.

Katsuki glared, tempted to go after her and antagonize her more, but refrained.

He had to get back to cleaning.

8.

As Cleo lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, a fast knock came from the door.

She recognized the sound too well.

She opened the door on her own, apparently having a key to Cleo's room, and had a smile on her face. In her hands was a medium sized bag.

Cleo half expected her to snap at her for laying on her bed. Usually, she hated seeing Cleo sitting and doing "nothing", especially when she was meditating.

She pulled out an outfit from her bag, and a frown tugged at the corners of Cleo's lips.

9.

The next morning, Bakugou was up early, pausing in his cleaning to lounge on the couch looking at his phone.

People were eating breakfast, waking up, and starting their day. Bakugou ignored all of them, keeping an ear out for the person he was waiting for.

As soon as he heard the usual chatter of Tenya, he looked up, finding Cleo walking with him. She was walking in pace with him, wearing worn blue sweat pants and loose black shirt, and a tired expression. Katsuki honestly couldn't remember if she was a morning person or not, but judging by her sluggish nods, she wasn't.

Her wings weren't in the sling, but they were bandaged up, dotted with small amounts of blood.

Katsuki had gotten up early to antagonize her, to see if he could goad her into a fight, but he suddenly couldn't think of anything to say to her. She looked tired, as if she was still waking up, and rubbed her eyes sleepily as she stood near the others. Tenya was making his way to the kitchen, where others were eating, and Cleo followed.

Tenya was exuberant, smiling and chatting excitedly about something, and started making them something in the kitchen for them to eat. Making breakfast was his way of thanking her for jogging with him.

Cleo tiredly leaned against the doorway between the dining table and kitchen. There were bags under her eyes, her shoulders were slumped more, and she wasn't nearly as alert as normal.

Bakugou frowned.

She wouldn't be fun to fight in her current state.

10.

As the day went on, he found himself bored out of his skull.

Day 2 of house arrest.

Everything was clean.

His homework for the week finished.

"Do you-" Deku started to say, but stopped when Katsuki sent him another glare.

He knew the answer.

Katsuki went back to his phone, passively thinking of ways to annoy Cleo.

She looked fun to fight.

He wanted to see her lose her shit.

11.

As Cleo walked across the campus ground, she ignored the people around her.

Her classmates were talking animatedly about the new training they'd undergo with the internships, about their contacts, and what they would work on.

Cleo had thrown up twice that day.

She was still nauseous.

Her mom already had someone set up. She would teach Cleo "sex appeal" and how to present herself as a female superhero.

"Aren't you excited, Cleo?" Ochako asked, and the group turned to her.

"It should be educational." Cleo said with a smile.

"I can't wait! I learned so much last time." Ochako said.

Cleo didn't say anything else on the subject.

Everyone else was excited.

As they walked into the dorms, Cleo was the last to enter, and froze when she was doused in liquid.

Her pants and shirt were covered in the slime, and she looked up, finding that Katsuki was near her with a broken bag of garbage.

She looked down, finding that she was covered in what looked like yogurt, pickle juice, and something else.

Soaked garbage was on the the floor.

There was a tense silence.

She looked up at him, finding him watching her expectantly.

"Gross!" Ochako screeched.

"Oh no!" Izuku yelled, and came over with a towel. "I can wash that for you!"

"No, thank you, though. I'll take care of it." Cleo said with a smile, and made her way to her room.

When she got there, she stripped down, put her clothes in the basket, and looked over at the new hero costume hanging on the wall.

A creepy chill went down her spine.

She felt like throwing up again.

Finding her skin still glistening wet, she went over to her closet, and she was momentarily frozen in place.

… her clothes had been replaced.

Her mother replaced her clothes.

She grabbed grabbed a towel from her counter, and dried herself off, but the smell was bad.

Instead of putting on a revealing dress, she went for her school uniform, and put it on before going downstairs to the showers

12.

Bakugou was annoyed as he sat in the common area, waiting for someone point out at something that needed cleaning. He and Deku had spent most of the day cleaning up the commons, getting everything impossibly clean, in case Aizawa came to check on their process.

He lounged with a book in his hand, researching emergency protocols, and occasionally berating himself for how unsuccessful he'd been a few hours earlier.

All that resulted was more mess to clean up. She didn't even look mad.

As purple entered the corner of his vision, he looked up, unnerved by the terrifying image of Mineta staring at him.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Katsuki growled at him.

"You like Cleo." Mineta said.

"Fuck off, weirdo." Katsuki told him with a glare.

"You want to do her." Mineta said.

"I want to kick your ass." Katsuki said as he started to get up, frightening the tiny student, but then he heard someone walking around.

He glanced up, and froze, not expecting the sight.

Cleo looked… different.

Very different.

Instead of her usual costume, school uniform, or conservative outfit, she wore a new costume. She wore a short pink skirt, light pink tights, and medium heels. Her breasts looked larger than usual, more pronounced, with a tight shirt and low cut. He had the weird urge to touch them, which was unusual for him, and he admired them as she walked.

It looked like a terrible hero costume, but extremely flattering.

She didn't acknowledge them as she walked, going straight for the front door and leaving.

Once she was gone, he heard a strange sound nearby, like some kind of gurgling. He looked over, and saw Mineta drooling with his eyes wide, his usual look when ogling "attractive" women.

Suddenly angry that Mineta had seen her that way, Katsuki kicked him hard in the head, sending him tumbling away and smacking into another couch.

He didn't seem the least bit faze, still daydreaming.

13.

The main training gym was empty.

As she entered, she spotted the short All Might by the lobby area. He was turned away from her, seeming occupied with his phone, and hadn't noticed her presence yet.

She stood by the entrance, watching him, and remembering her mother's words.

"Be like your sister. How do you think she got where she is today? Women have to make sacrifices."

Soon, Cleo would be learning how to wear "sexy" costumes without having fashion disasters, like a breast falling out or fabric a little too thin. There were a lot of small things to know with hero costumes, designing them, and interacting with people when off duty. Women had a lot of standards to uphold that men didn't.

Men just had to punch things. Women had to be able to punch things, look good, and not overshadow her male counterparts if she was able.

She was always supposed to smile.

According to her mother, there was only one way for women to advance in the world.

As she watched All Might, she thought about her father, and how he might be coming for her.

… would being a villain be that bad?

She probably wouldn't have to sleep with anyone.

All Might finally looked up from his phone, and smiled at her.

Even if Cleo didn't do as her mother asked, she could accuse All Might anyway.

"Hello, Cleo. Is that a new costume?" All Might asked as he approached.

"Yeah. Mom dropped it off last night." Cleo said with a similar smile.

"It doesn't seem very practical for training. I was hoping to just talk to you, anyway, so it works out." All Might said, looking so kind and humble.

He lost all of his powers, but he was still smiling. Trying to make a difference.

"I already sent in a design to the tech department for my wings. It should be done in a few days. I should be faster and stronger than I was before." Cleo said, but couldn't bring the fake joy to her voice.

According to her mother, being strong didn't matter. She'd already started complaining about her muscles.

"What happened to your wings… that shouldn't have happened, and I'm sorry about that. I know what it's like to lose a lot of your power very suddenly. For a long time I could still use my power in small amounts, so it wasn't completely gone, but it was still hard to deal with. Even though I have no doubt you'll get through this, it still has to be a very difficult change to deal with." All Might commented.

Cleo glanced around at the upper corners of the space, and found that there were cameras. They were pretty close to one.

If her mom accused him of anything, he'd be safe.

"Has there been any update on how it happened? At the exam." Cleo asked, turning back to him.

"... we think it might have been from someone in the Serpents. One of them has a quirk that fit what happened, but it's possible that it wasn't them. We don't know for sure." All Might replied.

She nodded, and winced when her wing moved unintentionally.

"Do you know why they would target you?" All Might asked.

"No idea." Cleo replied.

"You should be extra careful in the coming weeks. They could target you again." All Might warned, and Cleo nodded. "But you're resilient, and you have the bracelet, in case anything happens. You did great at the hero license exam and you do well at your studies. For someone with such a simple quirk, you're good at making the most of it but not relying on it entirely."

"Thanks, All Might. And I appreciate you meeting with me, but I'm pretty tired. The license exam took a lot out of me." Cleo requested.

"Oh, sure. We can meet up again if you want. Your mom mentioned that you were pretty startled by what happened, and thought that some one-on-one training might help. Since you're going to be getting new wings, you'll need more training to catch back up with your class." All Might offered.

Cleo hated her mom right then.

All Might was so nice.

She'd be stupid to turn down training from the #1 hero.

"I'll take any extra help I can get. Thank you, All Might. I appreciate it." Cleo said with a smile.

"How about we meet once you get your new costume? We can rent out this space and try out your new wings." All Might suggested.

"Sure." Cleo said with a nod. Once they set up a day and time, they left, and All Might walked her back to the dorm.

When they got there, he bid her goodnight, and opened the door for her. As she walked inside, she noticed that the only person in the common area was Bakugou.

Night had fallen since she'd left, and their classmates usually went to bed early.

Katsuki's eyes locked with hers, and she paused, not expecting the harsh stare.

"What the hell is with the outfit?" Katsuki asked.

"... none of your business." Cleo replied.

"Why were you with All Might?" Katsuki asked.

She froze, wondering if he somehow knew, and her face paled.

"How's house arrest going? You still have two days, right?" Cleo asked, and watched his jaw tense. "Also, fuck you for dumping all that trash on me earlier. You're really shit at cleaning."

He tensed more, his gaze hardening.

"At least I'm not walking around dressed as a slut." Katsuki retorted.

"At least I can walk outside." Cleo replied.

She started to walk towards the elevator, but Katsuki abruptly jumped to his feet and strode over to her. Cleo easily stood her ground, watching him carefully, and didn't move.

He got up to her face, only inches away, and continued glaring at her.

He wanted to fight.

He was trying to get her to punch first.

She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

But then, he smirked, and looked down at her, at her cleavage, and she brought her hand back to punch him in the face.

With the heels, she stumbled back slightly.

He stumbled back as well, holding his cheek, and kept smirking at her.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Cleo shouted at him.

He looked at her body again, and she moved forward, trying to hit him again, but he grabbed her wrist. She struggled against his grip, stumbling with her new shoes, and Katsuki got closer.

Both of them paused, staring at each other, and froze.

As if realizing just how close they'd gotten, Katsuki released her arm and stepped back.

Cleo turned away and went to the elevator, and went up to her room.

When she got there, she texted her mom, telling her that she didn't go through with it.

She quickly changed into her school gym clothes, since they were the only clothes that weren't "adult", now. She felt so disgusted by her day that she was tempted to ask the school for a boys uniform.

Not long after changing, her phone started ringing. She answered it, bringing it to her ear, and sighed as she started to listen to her mother's panicked voice.

"What do you mean you didn't go through with it? What happened? Is he gay?" Her mother questioned.

"I'm not doing it, mom. I'm not going to become a hero that way. All Might has agreed to train me once my new costume is done, though, so everything is fine." Cleo told her.

"You're not going to replace him that way. That's not how things work for women. You're too young to understand what kind of opportunity you have." Her mother said, and let out an exasperated sigh. "Your sister was so much more… eager."

Cleo hung up.

When her mother called again, she didn't answer, and tossed her phone onto her bed.

Then, recalling the nurse's instructions, walked over to the other side of the room and sat down in front of the mirror.

She couldn't look at her face.

She brought the bandages a little closer and then reached up, grabbing her stumby wing, and started to unwrap it.

Once the white bandage started to unravel, she rose in place.

Her entire body froze in fear.

Her heart raced in her chest.

No.

A small, strangled cry left her lips, absolutely horrified by the sight.

She reached for the scaley part, feeling the sharp scale, and she brought her other hand to her mouth, beginning to cry.

The scales weren't supposed to go this far.

She tried to pull back her quirk, to make the scales go away, but they wouldn't.

She covered her face, trying to drown out the sounds, and cried.

14.

The next morning, Bakugou got up early again, still in the habit of waking up early.

He sat on the couch, waiting for everyone to get up, when he noticed someone approach him. He looked up, expecting to shout at them, but was surprised when he saw Cleo next to him. She sat on the coffee table, wearing gym clothes, and there were bags under her eyes again. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep.

Instead of her stumps for wings being covered in bandages, she now had them covered in a light green fabric.

"Hey, I'm sorry for hitting you yesterday… and the day before that, with my wing." Cleo apologized in a low voice.

"... okay." Bakugou said awkwardly.

"I was wondering if you'd do a favor for me. I know that you hate me, but no one else is up yet, and I just… I don't know. I would ask Tenya, but he's a lot taller than me." Cleo said, her voice in the annoyingly soft tone. She looked on the verge of tears.

"You look like shit." Bakugou commented, and wanted to know why she looked so terrible, but didn't want to seem like he cared.

"Can I borrow a pair of pants from your school uniform? I'm going to ask Aizawa today for a boys uniform. Since you're not going to class today, and we're about the same size…" Cleo spoke awkwardly.

"Why do you want to wear the boys uniform?" Bakugou asked.

"... my mom replaced all of my clothes while I was in class yesterday. It's not… I just don't feel like wearing a skirt today. It's bad enough with my fucking wings, but then she replaces all my clothes and…." Cleo trailed off, and hung her head, taking a deep breath.

That's why she was in that outfit last night.

He glanced at her wings again… or, what was left of them.

"Fine. Whatever." Katsuki said as he stood up, shoving his hands into his pants, and went to go get her a pair.

"Thank you, Katsuki." Cleo said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Gaaaah, life. -_- But yaaaay, fanfics! Once this story is done (as in I post all the chapters), I have a 400,000+ word fanfic with the Bakugouxoc pairing to start updating, with each chapter at least 10,000. That one is a bajillion times more intense. ^^

Julietmonells: I'm pretty sure that I end up explaining the wings, but I can't remember which chapter. If it doesn't get explained, you can message me at the end of the story and I'll explain. :)

If any of you are interested in seeing my other work/artwork, my username on social media platforms is KFutterwacken. ^^

Thank you everyone for the faves, follows, and reviews! I appreciate every single one of you! I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_Learning_

People were confused about why she wore pants instead of a skirt to class, but they didn't make an issue of it. When she asked Aizawa about it, he said it wasn't a problem, and he'd put in an order for her.

About an hour into class, someone knocked on the door.

Cleo's mother's face emerged, sending the class a friendly wave.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, there's a small family emergency, and I need to see my daughter, Cleo."

Cleo tensed in her seat, and looked to Aizawa, hoping he'd say 'no.' That he'd tell her to stop by the main office to arrange the visit, and to not disrupt the class.

"It shouldn't take long. I just need to talk to her." Her mother added.

"Fine." Aizawa said tiredly.

Cleo gave her usual smile as she stood, and didn't miss her mother's subtle tense response as her eyes locked with the offending article of clothing.

Once they were in the hallway, she closed the door, and sent Cleo a stern glare. They walked down the hallway, away from the classrooms, and to a relatively secluded area by a large window. Several benches were to the side, and well kept trees loomed from outside the giant windows.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Her mother asked.

"I don't hate you." Cleo replied.

"Then why are you wearing that?" She snapped.

"I am not a hooker!" Cleo snapped in a harsh whisper.

"You have such a great opportunity, Cleo-"

"I'm at the best hero school in the country! Whether or not I sleep with people, I've got offers from tons of different agencies, and my classmates are incredibly strong. Even if, for whatever reason, I messed up everything, I would still have connections in this field." Cleo told her.

"'Settling' is not how you become the #1 hero, Cleo, I did not raise you to be an amateur hero. Your father is killing people everyday, which means that you have a lot to make up for. You have a lot of people to save. Consider that while you're being selfish."

Cleo looked away, taking a few deep breaths, and saw a trio of students walking down the hall.

She recognized them instantly. They were the top 3 students of the school.

Her mother instantly shmoozed up to them, smiling and introducing herself. She seemed to also know their status in the school, even though she played dumb.

"You're going to give a presentation to my daughter's class? That's so great! Would you be willing to walk her back there? I was just about to leave."

"Of course!" The blue-haired student, Nejire, said excitedly. She'd dominated most of the conversation and turned to Cleo, excitedly going to her wings. "What happened to your wings? Have they always been like that?"

"Come on, let's get to the class." Mirio, the tallest of the group, said.

Nejire cheered and linked arms with Cleo, moving quickly.

When they got back to her classroom, Cleo hurriedly went back to her seat.

Not long after, they were all asked to move to one of the training gyms.

Instead of fighting like the others, Cleo asked to sit on the sidelines with Shouto and Aizawa.

"Are you feeling okay, Cleo?" Aizawa asked her.

"Yeah. Just tired." Cleo replied, leaning against the wall and watching their classmates. She momentarily marveled at how awesome pants were.

1.

Katsuki hated house arrest.

He lounged against the couch, grunting every so often, and looked at the clock on the wall.

Time seemed to crawl, especially without Deku to yell at.

Everything was clean.

Everyone else was in class.

He was annoyed at not being in class, but he didn't regret fighting Izuku. That had been a good fight, and he learned a lot, both about himself, Izuku, and All Might.

Without that experience, he would still be fighting blindly, angry at himself and not knowing all the facts.

What happened to All Might was still his fault. The world finding out about him, his abilities, and the resulting villainy revival… that was all his fault.

But now he knew more.

Now, instead of just feeling angry and guilty, he was strangely intrigued by Cleo.

He loved seeing her react, for that mask of hers to fall, and say what she thinks. To lower down that wall and talk shit talk instead of flowery words and smiles. Seeing her be so casual, so raw, so real… he wasn't sure why, but he loved to see that. Seeing her that way was invigorating, and he wasn't sure why.

Briefly, his mind flashed to the memory of her in that shirt, and he frowned.

_No. That's gross._

… _no._

For the most part, he didn't find girls interesting. He just wanted to fight people, and if they happened to be female, he considered them like he would any other opponent. They were someone to defeat, nothing else.

Cleo was someone to beat up, to win in a fight.

_Yeah… I just want to fight her. I haven't actually fought her one-on-one yet._

He went back to his book, trying to read, but kept thinking back to her.

He grabbed her wrist, blocking her attack, and got so close to her.

Her arm was so warm, and her skin soft.

He grunted, glaring at the words, and willing them to be more interesting.

2.

When classes were over, and the students arrived, Katsuki was confused when he was dragged by both arms off of the couch and around a corner, out of view of the others.

Hanta, Denki, Eijiro, and Mineta all surrounded him, looking at him with a serious glare.

"Did you give Cleo your pants?" Eijiro asked.

"Why the fuck do you losers care?" Katsuki glared at them.

"I knew it. You've seduced her." Mineta said in a creepy tone.

"Will you fuck off? I told you that I don't like her. I didn't give her my damn pants." Katsuki told them.

"Then who gave her the pants?" Denki asked.

"Why do you care where she got pants from?" Katsuki asked them.

"She's wearing another man's pants! Don't you understand the implications?!" Mineta asked in a serious tone.

Recalling the way he looked at Cleo last night, and how creepy he was in that moment, Katsuki kicked him in the head, sending him tumbling away.

"Maybe it was Fumikage? They're pretty close in size." Denki wondered, barely acknowledging what happened to Mineta.

"Why do you people care where she gets her clothes?" Bakugou asked them.

"Because if she's wearing a boy's clothes, that means that she might be seeing someone." Denki explained.

"Why do you care?" Bakugou asked.

"Because she's cute! It's a wonder that she doesn't have a boyfriend yet." Eijirou said.

"You're all losers." Bakugou said with a roll of his eyes, and stalked off, walking to the main room.

Over by the couches, he saw that Cleo was sitting next to Ochaco and talking to Tenya about their morning jogs. Cleo was apologizing for missing that morning.

"Don't worry about it. How are your wings doing?" Tenya asked.

"Sore, but overall fine." She replied uneasily.

Across the room, Katsuki watched as Mineta and the others started dragging off every male in their class, trying to figure out who gave Cleo their pants for the day.

"You looked really tired in class today. Have you been sleeping alright?" Tenya asked, getting Katsuki's attention.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I stayed up late last night making the new covers for my wings. Even when I get the new wings, I'm guessing that the school won't let me walk around with my hero wings, so… I need something to make them look nice." Cleo said, and at those words, Katsuki felt a small amount of guilt.

_Did she do that because I called them stumps?_

"They look great. If you want, we could go to the store and find something to decorate them more." Ochaco offered.

"I don't want to break dress code. If they're too flashy, I'll probably get in trouble for it." Cleo replied.

"We could get things for when we're not in class. We can go to a craft store and find something cute, like flowers or something." Ochaco offered.

"That sounds like so much fun!" Toru said excitedly nearby.

"How about we go there now? We can go to the craft shop two blocks from here, Mimi's Fabric. We can change into casual clothes and then head out." Ochaco said.

"Can I go, too?" Sue asked.

"What if we have a group go? There are a few things I'd like to get there as well." Tenya suggested, and soon, half their class was planning to go with them.

As the group left to change, Cleo remained behind.

He recalled her that morning, when she asked to borrow his pants. Her mom replaced all of her clothes.

Bakugou walked around, peering at her, and caught a glimpse of sadness before she hid it with a smile.

"Thanks for this morning, Katsuki. I really appreciate it." Cleo said as she stood, facing him.

Her skin was pale, and she looked like she didn't get any sleep last night.

"You still look like shit." Bakugou commented, and glanced around.

Mineta and the others were staring at them from across the room, hiding behind one of the corners.

"I feel like it. Are you coming with us- oh, right, sorry." Cleo said awkwardly. "Well… see you later. I'm going to go change."

"Whatever." Katsuki replied.

3.

Oddly, as Cleo walked down one of the craft aisles alone, she wished that Katsuki was there.

He was rude last night, but that morning… he really helped her out.

As she looked at the various small objects, small flowers and rocks and other small pendants, she found herself strangely disgusted with them. In the past she was indifferent about "girly" or "boyish" things, only taking interest in things she liked regardless, but now, she could only see items in terms of gender.

_Which of these items would make older men find me unattractive?_ She found herself wondering, and hated that the thought popped into her mind.

Her mom said that she was being selfish for not sleeping with All Might. As if, by sleeping with him, that would somehow make her a better hero.

_That would give you more connections, and hypothetically, more opportunity to save people._

Cleo did a lot to make her mom happy.

_I could threaten to tell everyone what I am._ Cleo thought, but then frowned. That would get her disowned, kicked out, and unable to work in the hero field ever again. Her career would be over and she would be screwed. Lying to authorities about quirks was a serious crime, which her mother could go to jail for, too. Cleo was just a minor.

_I would still get expelled. That wouldn't work out well for either of us._

But her mother had been attacked by a high status villain, and never reported it. She'd be in a lot of trouble, just from Cleo's conception.

_Maybe I could join my dad._

She thought back to all the articles about him. He was a terrible person, violent, and ruthless. He hurt a lot of people.

Ochaco and Toru came over to her, wielding some small flowers attached to stretchy bands.

"Sakura flowers are your favorite, right?" Ochaco asked with a grin, and showed her what they had found.

"You would look so cute with these!" Toru added.

Cleo looked at them, and she was filled with silent dread. They were pink, sparkly, and although elegant in style, were still very feminine.

"Maybe I could find something a little less girly?" Cleo requested.

"What's wrong with girly?" Toru added.

"There's nothing wrong with girly, I just… I don't know. I don't really want my stumps to be really girly or glittery." Cleo shrugged lamely, unable to think of a better thing to say. If she went ahead and bought those, then it would just add to her collection of things she didn't like.

She wore a pair of pants from her school gym clothes, a tank top, and then light blue hoodie, despite the warm air. Her mother probably threw out her unique clothes that fit comfortably and fit her unique style.

"They're not stumps, Cleo." Ochaco told her.

"Then what would you call them?" Cleo asked, and at the awkward expression on Ochaco's face, she knew that she crossed a line. She was being too honest with them, so she smiled. "Don't worry about it, Ochaco. I was just joking. I'm just a little picky about how my wings are decorated right now, I hope you don't take offense."

"No, of course not! I want to find something that makes you happy!" Ochaco said in a hurry, her cheeks red in embarrassment as she shook her hands in alarm.

"I think I saw some badges on the other side of the store with dinosaurs on them. They're not glittery and since your hero name is Pterodactyl, it'll work." Toru suggested.

"That sounds cool." Cleo nodded with a casual smile.

"Great!" Ochaco said excitedly, and as the group moved across the store, found Tenya in an aisle with giant feathers and dazzling fake gems. There were multiple pink feathers in his basket and he was inspecting a group of jems of rainbow variety.

"What are you looking at, Tenya?" Ochaco asked.

"I'm making a gift for my mom. Her birthday is coming up." Tenya replied with a smile and awkward blush on his cheeks.

"Aaw, that's so sweet!" Ochaco and Toru coo'd, which made Tenya's face heat up even more.

They continued over to the dinosaur patches, which were clearly meant for kids, but Cleo looked at them anyway.

She picked up one of the Pterodactyls, and briefly wondered if she would be able to grow into an adult without being a sexualized object. Would that be possible?

When she thought about her role models, she'd never considered them in terms of "sexiness". They just looked pretty and clean.

Was she fighting a losing battle? Was her mom right?

Ochaco and Toru were busy gushing about how cute some of the dinosaurs were, having strayed to some pink ones (they had advertised to girls who liked dinosaurs).

The more she looked at the world, the more she realized how gendered it was.

If she wanted to be a hero, to save people… would she have to follow those rules?

4.

She ended up with a lot of new dinosaur badges to sew onto her wings.

She would sew them onto her next pair of stump covers. Whenever she got around to making another stump cover.

After eating dinner and putting her things away, she got a book and went to the common area.

Everyone else was tired from fighting that day, going straight to bed.

Except for Bakugou.

He was sitting on the couch, reading a book, and seemed strangely content.

She had the extremely weird urge to cuddle up next to him.

There was no logical reason for the impulse. Bakugou was volatile, loud, and violent- but she felt like sitting next to him.

So, she did.

Cleo sat directly next to him, pressing their arms together, and laid her head down on his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Bakugou snapped.

"Can I sit here for a while?" Cleo asked.

She could feel his heart racing.

The sound was soothing.

"... whatever, freak." Bakugou grumbled.

She shifted slightly, getting more comfortable, and eyes drifted shut.

Sitting with him was oddly relaxing.

5.

Bakugou was confused, terrified, and frozen in place.

He felt a lot of weird things he didn't have a name for.

He wanted to be close to her, to interact with her, somehow, but he didn't know how. If he moved, he was afraid that she'd go away.

Her hair and cheek was soft and warm.

He looked around, making sure that no one was watching them. Mineta would have a field day.

He really, really liked having her so close. She even smelled nice. Her hair smelled like strawberry shampoo.

_Why am I letting her do this? I should shove her. I wouldn't let any other classmate do this._

He was tempted to shove her off, not wanting to deal with rumors or any of his weird feelings, but then he heard her start to snore softly.

Looking around again, he resolved that if he heard anyone arrive, he'd shove her off and go back to reading. If they claimed they saw anything, he'd kick their ass.

Bakugou looked back down at his book, going back to reading, and tried to ignore Cleo.

6.

The next morning, as she waited for class to start, she was both happy and mildly annoyed by Katsuki returning to class.

Seeing him more often again would be weird, especially after last night.

She felt weak that morning, having done her morning jog with Tenya and new routine of throwing up in the morning. Ever since her mother tried to make her seduce her teacher, she hadn't been able to keep a full meal down.

Which, not having enough energy to move was a problem for someone training to be a hero.

_Not that anything but sex appeal matters for women._

Her stomach whined again.

She turned to look out the window, wondering what she would do, and thought about last night with Katsuki. A slight blush crept up her neck, thinking about how pleasant his heartbeat was, and how fast it was. How, when she woke up, it was slow and calm, since Katsuki had fallen asleep, too.

He drooled so much.

She smiled, thinking about how his eyes creased in annoyance, with little tiny crusties in the corners. How, when she smiled at him, a deep red spread across his cheeks.

Cleo got Katsuki to blush.

He was cute when he wasn't screaming about murdering people in cold blood.

Katsuki cursed loudly, getting her attention, and she looked up to find that there was a new person in the class. She recognized them as the hero Best Jeanist, who could manipulate thread in fabric.

"Just as charming as ever, Bakugou." The hero said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here?" Katsuki sneered.

"I'm teaching your class today about costume design."

Cleo nearly groaned, but refrained.

She didn't want to learn more about costume design. Her internship was going to be wasted on that crap, and what she really needed was someone with flying experience to train with. Not clothes designers.

"How much of our day will this take up?" Cleo asked.

"Are you Cleo?" The hero asked, and she frowned. "Your mother asked me personally to do this workshop with the school. She said that you needed some help after what happened to your wings."

"I don't need help with my clothes, I need new tech and fighting practice when I get them. I have to change my fighting style." Cleo told him.

"People with disabilities and physical transformation quirks have a lot of hurdles to go over, especially public perception of them. You'll need more than just a green cover to make your wings look like anything other than long spider legs."

She felt like she'd been hit by a truck.

_Spider legs?_ _My beautiful wings look like spider legs?_

"Unless you're okay with looking like a villain, which is a different route to take, but not unheard of. Heroes like Gang Orca look like villains, but are very capable heroes. Typically that's much more difficult for women and even for men, it's a difficult route to take." The hero added.

_I look like a villain, now? My wings look like spider legs and I look like a villain?_

"So we're going to get fashion advice from someone whose pants look like they tried to strangle them and gave up halfway through?" Cleo asked.

"You should treat your elders with more respect." The hero said.

"I treat people with respect when they deserve it." Cleo replied, narrowing her eyes at them.

"Cleo, are you okay?" Ochaco whispered to her.

Cleo glanced at the clock, finding that she had ten minutes to spare.

She went to the bathroom to throw up.

7.

The guest speaker did have a lot of interesting information about hero costume designs, but Cleo wasn't the only one to notice that women's costumes had a tendency to be a bit more provocative. Most of the stronger female heroes had more skin showing and posed in less powerful ways.

"Do girl heroes have to… dress like that?" Ochaco asked with a heavy blush on her cheeks. She pointed to a picture on the projector, where a superheroine was posed in as very revealing outfit that left nothing to the imagination.

There were plenty of male costumes that were revealing, but they weren't as provocative or common.

"No, but the most successful ones do." Hakamata replied with a shrug. "There are tasteful and specific ways that female superheroes dress to be conservative yet attractive. Men have similar but different standards."

"Women show off their breasts and men show off their muscles, how the fuck is that fair?" Cleo snapped from the back of the class.

Everyone turned to her.

"Most women enjoy dressing like this." Hakamata said before Aizawa could scold her.

"According to you, anyone that doesn't want to dress like this can't advance in their field. How does showing off my ass save lives? At least with men you can argue that more muscles signify strength." Cleo asked.

"Cleo, let's talk after class." Aizawa told her, and then, the door opened.

A woman with long blond hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin walked in. She wore a black and light blue skirt, matching tight shirt, and carried a briefcase with her. Her heels clicked against the ground with each step.

"Sorry for being early." Kagome apologized.

Cleo frowned and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"Kagome! I didn't realize you were the other person coming today." Hakamata said exuberantly.

"I am! I'm going to be going over some of the latest technology in hero gear and how to look fashionable with them." Kagome spoke in a bubbly voice.

Cleo narrowed her eyes at her.

She knew how she got her position.

She didn't respect her anymore.

Cleo pulled out a piece of paper and got started on a new costume design.

8.

At the end of class, Cleo stayed behind, as requested.

Kagome waited outside for her, and chatted with Hakamata. They seemed to be good friends.

Aizawa looked tired as he sat at his desk, looking up at her with half-lidded eyes.

"What's going on, Cleo? You look like you haven't slept and you haven't been acting like yourself. Is it because of what happened to you wings, or is it something else?" Aizawa asked in a calm voice.

"If being a hero means dressing like a sex object, why shouldn't I be a villain instead?" Cleo asked.

He paused, seeming to seriously consider her words.

"I know that the industry is biased, but you don't have to dress like them. My hero costume isn't all spandex and showy. I care more about your abilities as a hero rather than how attractive you are, and in the end, that's what most people care about. They don't care about how you look, they care about your quirk and how you help people. Some agencies care more about appearance, and there will be a few requirements, but you don't have to dress in a way that makes you uncomfortable." Aizawa explained, and she relaxed slightly.

_But he's also a guy. He could just be unaware of what women do to get ahead in this field._

"I know that costume design is a pain, believe me, but it is important to be aware of some things. Being aware of the message your costume sends, no matter what you're trying to convey, is important. Even if you disagree with the interpretation, it's important to keep in mind." Aizawa added, and she nodded.

"Thank you, sensei." Cleo said with her usual smile.

"Is that all that's been bothering you?" Aizawa asked.

"Yes. Can I leave?" Cleo asked.

"Yes… let me know if you need anything else clarified. You're a good student, and I have no doubt that you'll be a great hero someday." Aizawa said.

"Thank you, sensei." Cleo said with a bow, and then left, finding Kagome outside.

Her sister looked up from her phone, sending a smile her way.

"Mom wasn't kidding about your wings. They look hideous." Kagome said, looking at her stumps.

Cleo glared, pausing outside of the room, and shoved her hands into the pockets of her pants. She would pick up her own pair at the office on her way back to the dorms.

"And a boys uniform? Really, Cleo? No one can see your beautiful legs in those. No wonder mom called in a panic last night. Are you trying to give her a heart attack? You know how weak her heart is." Kagome ranted as they walked. "Look, mom doesn't have the best taste in clothes, so she probably replaced your clothes with some hideous things. I made a new costume for you that is similar to your old one, just modified a little. I figure that we can go shopping to replace what mom got."

Cleo sent her a glare, but didn't say anything.

9.

Kagome ended getting her home after curfew.

Aizawa was by the door, waiting for them.

After walking inside, Kagome went back to her bubbly personae. She giggled and got closer to Aizawa, apologizing for bringing her little sister sister home late.

"We have a curfew for a reason." Aizawa said, looking mildly annoyed by Kagome's mannerisms.

"I know! I'm sorry, but our mom has been worried about her, and insisted that I spent time with her after what happened." Kagome explained.

Cleo stood nearby with a deadpan expression, holding two bags of clothes and wearing a new outfit.

She was dressed in a pair of hip hugging jeans and t-shirt, and her stumps now had a cutesy, bedazzled cover over them.

After talking for a little while, Aizawa left, and Kagome turned back to Cleo, looking her in the eye.

"Promise me that you'll give those clothes a chance. I promise, they'll make things easier, and you'll turn a few heads with that body of yours." Kagome said with a wink, and pulled her in for a hug. "Let me know what you think of the costume upgrades. Good night, sis."

Cleo watched as she left, and not long after, Ochaco and Toru came over to her.

"You look really cute, Cleo! I love what you did with your wings!" Ochaco said excitedly.

"Woah, they do look cool!" Izuku said as he came over, admiring the jewels and shiny cloth. The new covers weren't subtle.

A few others from her class came over, admiring the new clothes and cover. Apparently the new clothes "fit" better.

Cleo smiled and thanked them for the compliments, excited to leave them and go to her room.

She was excited for her new costume design.

10.

When Cleo came back from shopping, Katsuki looked up from his book across the room.

As her sister talked to their teacher, Cleo stayed back, looking bored and annoyed. She had a deadpan expression on her face and clothing bags in her hands, looking just as enthused as Bakugou usually looked after shopping with his parents.

"Oh my god, that outfit." One of the guys said near him, and he looked over, finding that all of the guys around him were practically drooling.

The outfit was simple, but did emphasize certain characteristics.

Her breasts did look nice. Otherwise, he didn't care. She was just fun to yell at sometimes.

As soon as their classmates went to her, the mask returned.

She always acted like that around them. Happy and carefree.

He preferred when they were alone and could drop their guards. When she could curse and act like herself, rather than a dumb girl without a care in the world.

He couldn't wait to fight her for real. She's been bottling up a lot of anger lately, especially at him, and she was ready to explode.

Mineta was making that creepy face again.

Katsuki kicked him in the head, sending him tumbling across the room and into the wall.

11.

That night, Cleo tried on the new costume.

It… wasn't that much different than her old one, but… now….

It just looked….

The costume was bright pink and green, with the usual tightness. The lines were a little different, emphasizing certain areas subtly. Everything looked a bit more sleek, formal, and… "sexy".

Even though it was so similar to her old costume, she hated it, because it felt too feminine.

The new clothes weren't as bad as the ones her mom got her, but they were still too… girly. She missed her old clothes.

Her sister said that she needed to "grow up" and wear clothes appropriate for young women.

She still needed to pick up the new pants from the office.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she thought about the new design she'd made in class, and felt more confident about it.

12.

Late that night, Katsuki felt stupid as he sat in the common area.

He really, really wanted Cleo to come back down, sit next to him, and fall asleep on him.

_Stop being dumb._

He ended up falling asleep on the couch, and waking up at 3 AM to go back to his room.

13.

The next morning, during their jog, Cleo stopped by the office to pick up her new clothes. The top was effectively the same for both uniforms, so she just got a few pairs of pants.

As Tenya and Cleo walked out into the hallway, walking over to the exit to get back to the dorms, Tenya finally spoke up. He'd been unusually quiet when they entered the building.

"So… why the pants?" Tenya asked.

"Felt like it." Cleo said simply with a smile. He awkwardly smiled back.

"I feel like, as class president, I should tell you… there have been a lot of questions about who let you borrow their pants. A lot of our class has been gossiping about it." Tenya said awkwardly.

"That's annoying." Cleo commented, and sighed. "But not unexpected. What are the current guesses?"

Tenya face heated up slightly.

"W-well… Shouto is a common guess." Tenya answered.

"What's your guess?" Cleo asked.

"I-I don't think it would be appropriate for me to guess." Tenya stuttered.

"They're just pants, Tenya. Relax. It's not like I like them or anything, and since I have my own pair, now, I get to return them to their original owner." Cleo told him with a smile, and he seemed to relax slightly.

"If you ever need help with anything, let me know." Tenya offered.

"Thanks, and the same goes to you." Cleo replied. "How have you been holding up since your brother? How is he doing?"

"He's… he's doing okay. He's still recovering, but he's getting better. I've been doing my best to make him proud." Tenya explained, and she nodded in approval.

"Good for you, and I'm glad he's doing better."

"How have you been doing since the license exam? The Best Jeanist was really harsh yesterday. I don't think they look like spider legs or villainous at all." Tenya asked.

"Thanks, Tenya… and I've been okay. Before class I'm going to stop by the tech department and see if I can submit a few new changes for my costume. Yesterday gave me a lot of cool ideas." Cleo spoke as they approached the dorms. As they entered, she started talking about a few of the changes, and paused when she noticed Bakugou glaring daggers at her from one of the couches.

He looked legitimately upset.

"Can you start breakfast? I need to talk to Bakugou about something." Cleo requested with her typical smile.

"Sure, I'll be quick." Tenya said with a smile and nod, and walked over to the kitchen.

Cleo made her way over to Katsuki, and as she did, he kept glaring at her. He was already showered and wearing his school uniform.

"Morning, Katsuki." Cleo said with a smile and wave.

"Fuck off." He glared, and narrowed his eyes.

"The fuck did I do to piss you off this time?" Cleo snapped, and looking around, making sure that no one was around. "And I'll return those pants to you. I got my own." She said as she held up the three pairs on her arm.

"Fuck off." Katsuki repeated.

She narrowed her eyes and lightly kicked his calf.

He kicked her in the response, except, he kicked her hip, sending her off balance and toppling over the table to the floor.

She wasn't used to her new wings enough to catch herself. Usually, she would be able to stop herself from falling, even with the table there.

Sitting up, she sent him an equally scathing glare, and they just stared at each other for a while.

"Fuck off." Katsuki said again.

"Fine. I'll go hang out with someone that's not a jerk." Cleo said as she moved to stand, and picked up the pants that had fallen to the ground. As she moved, she was aware of the new bruises on her bare legs, and made her way over to the kitchen. She leaned against one of the counters, out of the way but close by.

He was almost done with the American breakfast: eggs, bacon, and toast. He liked trying out new recipes, and since he was so happy over her joining him for morning jogging, he made extra for her.

"How'd the conversation with Katsuki go?" Tenya asked at the stove.

"The usual. He told me to 'fuck off' and kicked me. I'm not sure what I did to piss him off today." Cleo said, and recalled the other night they spent together.

Falling asleep on him had been surprisingly nice. She wished that they could sleep in the same bed without the sexual connotations.

"Sounds like Bakugou." Tenya nodded, and she chuckled. "Izuku said that he wants to join our morning jogs, by the way. We got to talking about training outside of class, and I asked Aizawa about spaces on campus we're allowed to rent for it. We need a certain number of people to participate in order to rent some of the spaces."

"Sounds great." Cleo said with a nod.

"There's a small gym on campus that's usually not too busy, and has a bunch of weights and equipment we can use. There's a room there we can rent out, and we need at least three people for it. I figure that we can have you, Izuku, and I rent it, but then invite other people. That way, in case some of the people end up too tired and don't want to do it, some of us can make use of it." Tenya reasoned.

"Sounds great. I want to work on gaining some more muscle." Cleo said with a nod.

After eating breakfast, taking a shower, and changing, she rushed over to the main tech room, just as the teacher was getting there.

She walked inside as he looked over the new design.

"Is it too late?" Cleo asked, and shivered at how cold the messy room was. Her wings came closer to her body as she wandered close to him, and he absently turned the lights on as he went over the new design.

"You know, if you ever wanted to switch careers and be a hero tech person, I'd be glad to write you a recommendation. You're a great artist, great at designs, and knowledgeable about different hero tech materials. This looks great. The color scheme seems really dark, though, which is pretty different from your usual costumes." He spoke as he continued looking over the page.

"I know. I'm going for a different look." Cleo said.

"We'll have to scrap some of the other costume we were making for you, but this seems a lot better for your style. Are you certain that you want something so dark, though?" He checked again.

"Yeah." Cleo nodded.

"Alright. We'll have this done in about four days."

"Thank you." Cleo said, happy that something was working out for her.

14.

They had gym that day, which involved grappling.

Tenya was unfortunately paired with Katsuki, which ended in a sprained wrist and multiple bruises for the runner.

15.

As they sat in class, Cleo lazily took notes while listening to the teacher drone on about math.

Every once in a while, Katsuki would turn and send her a glare.

She wondered what was up with him that day, but knew better than to ask. If she wanted to figure out what his deal was, she'd probably have to fight him, guessing the entire time, and whatever made him hit hardest, was what was bothering him.

As her attention drifted back to math, her attention drifted again, going back to the text she received during lunch.

Tomorrow, their day off, would be spent at her sister's work at a famous hero tech company. She would be leaving about an hour after school ended.

A frown tugged at her lips, and she wished that math was over. Although necessary, she hated the subject. She preferred learning about it through real life examples, like hero tech designs.

Hearing such praise from the hero tech teacher had been nice, but considering what she recently learned about her sister, she didn't want to enter the field. She didn't want to be a hero, either, but at least she'd get to punch people in the hero field. As a tech designer, she'd have to refrain from punching idiots.

_Maybe Katsuki will tell me what's wrong if I punch him in the face again._

16.

As Katsuki went to grab his school bag and gym bag, he was surprised to find a pair of pants next to his gym bag, as if they'd fallen out.

He glanced around, finding that everyone else was distracted, and quickly put them inside the bag. Then, he slung his bags over his shoulder, and looked around to find Cleo already out the door, chatting with Sue and Ochaco.

"I want to know!" Eijiro yelled in frustration as he gathered his belongings.

"I know, it's killing me. Whose pants did she borrow?" Denki added.

Katsuki rolled his eyes as he walked off, and was annoyed when they caught up to him. They kept talking about the stupid pants directly behind him.

"I still think it was Fumikage. He was missing a pair of pants, even though he said it was in the wash." Eijiro theorized.

_Morons._

When they reached the dorms, he was surprised to see that so many people had already changed into casual clothes. Most of the girls were on one of the couches, chatting about something, and Katsuki was briefly enamored by Cleo's outfit.

Most of her long legs were exposed, like that morning, and she wore tall furry boots with them. The skirt was dark, similar to the school uniform, and she had a light jacket over that. Compared to her usual, more unique clothes, they seemed much more stereotypical for girls.

"How did she get so cute!?" The guys behind Katsuki whispered to each other, and Katsuki rolled his eyes again.

_Idiots._

"Who let you borrow the pants, Cleo? Was it someone you like?" Toru asked.

The boys behind him held their breaths, as if trying to seem invisible, and eavesdropped.

Katsuki noticed that Mineta was crouched behind the couch that the girls were sitting at, clearly eavesdropping, and had that usual perverted expression on his face.

"Why do people care? They're just pants." Cleo replied.

Katsuki went back to walking, casually going to the direction of the couch, and ignored the greeting from Cleo and the others. He kicked Mineta, hard, sending him flying across the room.

The girls looked behind the couch, and then at Mineta.

Before they could ask him what happened, Katsuki was already on his way to the kitchen for food. He was hungry.

The idiots followed him, continuing to talk about the dumb pants, and he tried to ignore them as he went to the fridge.

Suddenly, the talking stopped, and he turned to see them running to hide behind the counter.

"Fuck, I'm starving. Is there anything good in there?" Cleo asked as she came up next to him, their arms pressing against each other as she peered inside, looking at the various foods thoughtfully.

"You could have searched anywhere other than the fridge first." Katsuki pointed out with a glare.

"So could you." Cleo replied, not wearing her mask or using flowery words. He felt surprisingly at ease with her like this, and instead of looking in the fridge for food, he watched her reach inside, grab a string cheese and apple, and then walk away.

He had the weird urge to grab her, to… do something with her, but he didn't really know what.

Feelings were annoying.

He went back to looking inside the fridge, searching for anything appetizing, and was annoyed when Eijiro and Denki came back to him, acting way too excited.

"She likes you! You're the one that gave her the pants!" Eijiro said in a loud whisper.

"I'd never lend any of you losers my clothes. Shut up and leave me alone." Katsuki snapped, and went over to the cupboards, where there were a lot of snacks to choose from. He picked one at random, a small bag of gummy bears, and started to eat.

"You like her!" Denki told him.

Katsuki punched him in the face, sending him toppling over.

"You were one of the only rooms we didn't check for pants." Eijiro added.

Katsuki punched him in the gut, and then went to his room, snacking on the gummy bears.

When he got to his room, he shoved his school bag to the side, and opened his gym bag. He pulled out the pants he'd lent to Cleo, and when he picked them up, found that there was a card inside.

All it said was 'Thanks!', and then on the inside, was a smiley face with the words 'I also washed them last night, so they're clean!'

He tossed it into the garbage can, and got started on homework.

17.

That evening, after he did his usual workout and studying, he went down to the commons to read and ignore his dumb classmates.

To his annoyance, they were being dumber than usual.

A lot of his classmates were nearby, talking about the dumb pants, and concocting ridiculous plans to find out the guilty party.

"Shouldn't we just respect her privacy? I don't think she'd appreciate this." Sue spoke up.

"But don't you want to know?" Mina asked her.

"And come on, it's just a pair of pants. I'm sure she'll laugh when she finds out. All of this is ridiculous." Ochaco added.

Katsuki recalled when Cleo asked him to borrow the pants, and how terrible she looked. She'd been crying, missing sleep, and just looking like shit. Whatever was going on with her, he doubted that she'd take this as lightly as they hope she will.

Denki pulled up the white board again, which had the names of all their male classmates.

"We can't rule out the possibility that whoever let her borrow the pants had multiple pairs. The only people we can definitively rule out are the tallest and shortest people in our class, since her pants weren't hemmed. Kouji, Rikidou, Mezou, Tenya, and I are off the list." Mineta spoke as he took the marker and started crossing off names.

"Which leaves Shouto, Hanta, Fumikage, Katsuki, Izuku, Denki, Yuuga, and I." Eijirou spoke, looking pensively at the board.

"Izuku seems like the most likely to do it. He's super nice about that kind of thing." Mina said, and Ochaco's cheeks turned to a slight pink.

"Izuku is a terrible liar. There's no way he could lie about something like that." Denki pointed out.

"Katsuki is also a suspect. He stared at her breasts twice now." Mineta accused.

"I did not, you fucking loser!" Katsuki shouted as his hands sparked in anticipation of blowing him to bits.

"Even if Katsuki liked her, he wouldn't give her his clothes. He'd be more likely to shout at her and try to hit her." Eijiro pointed out.

"Fuck off!" Katsuki shouted, and got up, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaving. He was tired, anyway.

18.

The next morning, Cleo went to her sister's work, bright and early. She even had a guest pass for her to get into the building, and had to sign a form stating that she wouldn't disclose any information from the company to the public or any individual.

After using their cards to get inside, Cleo walked with Kagome, dressed in a similar outfit to her. They both wore short skirts, tights with tiny cute cat faces printed on them, and a formal shirt with a jacket.

The main room was massive, filled with dozens of cubicles. On their way, Kagome occasionally stopped and flirted with someone, or complimented a woman's outfit. Everyone was friendly enough, but as they walked away, the men would stare at their behinds.

A lot of people commented on how similar they looked. Men seemed particularly interested in Cleo when she mentioned her age.

After walking through the main room, they walked over to one of the warehouses. Most employees had a cubicle for paperwork and boring work, and then a portion of a warehouse to make their designs a reality.

Across the room, someone was testing a costume by using a flame thrower on it, and another person nearby had a fire extinguisher on hand.

Kagome walked over to presumably her corner of the warehouse, which was occupied by two men. On the wall were countless small pieces of armor, materials, and pieces. On a nearby moveable shelf, there were more scrap pieces. In the center of the space were two manikins in partial dress.

"Cleo, these are the people on my team, Rija and Shoji." Kagome introduced.

Rija was tall, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. He wore a jumpsuit that matched his male colleagues', which was black with their company's logo on the center chest area. His hair was short and slicked back, and he had a strong jawline.

Shoji was a bit shorter and rounder, with long hair pulled into a ponytail and glasses.

"You're Kagome's little sister, right? You're just as cute as she is." Rija said with a friendly smile.

"You're going to school at UA, right? Are you going to be a hero tech designer like your sister?" Shoji asked.

"No, I'm planning to be a pro hero." Cleo replied.

"That's cute." Rija chuckled.

"You are absolutely adorable! You two match! You both have the same slender legs and big breasts." Shoji said, and Cleo's polite smile turned into a glare.

Kagome laughed him off.

"It's a compliment." Shoji added, when Cleo didn't laugh.

"No. It's creepy." Cleo stated in a serious voice.

"She's just a little tired since her injury, don't mind her. She was attacked during the pro-license exams." Kagome said in a light voice.

"I got one of the highest scores." Cleo added in a monotone voice.

"Will you still be able to fight with those stumps? Learning to use prosthetics isn't easy." Rija added.

"It's easier to stab people, now. If I felt like it I could impale you on these 'stumps' pretty easily." Cleo said as she moved her wings slightly.

"Cleo, be nice, they're just being silly." Kagome told her.

"Yeah, lighten up." Rija told her.

This was going to be a long day.

19.

When she got back to the dorms that afternoon, she couldn't wait to change. Unfortunately, her classmates seemed to have another idea.

Fumikage approached her, wearing casual clothes and an annoyed expression on his face. "Can you tell people that you didn't borrow my pants? They're getting out of control."

Cleo looked behind him, over at the group on the couches, and they all immediately smiled and waved to her.

Eijiro was hurriedly trying to put something away.

"What have they been doing?" Cleo asked.

"Cleo!" Mina squealed as she came over, pulling Cleo in for a hug. "Oh my gosh, that looks so cute! You look adorable!"

"Where did you get those? Did your sister help you pick that out?" Ochaco asked.

"Are you people still trying to figure out the dumb pants thing?" Cleo asked tiredly.

"What? Of course not! Have you eaten dinner yet?" Ochaco asked.

"No." Cleo replied.

"Let's all go out for dinner!" Eijirou suggested loudly, and there was a group of guys behind him that nodded enthusiastically.

"I really don't-" Cleo tried to say, but everyone was suddenly cheering to go out and eat, and they roped in more people to join them. Even Katsuki agreed to go.

Most of the guys practically drooled over her, and kept being overly nice and polite to her. They talked over one another, shoved each other out of the way, and surrounded her.

She didn't get to change before they were ushering her out the door.

They all went to a small, cheap restaurant down the street. Cleo ended up seated between Denki and Eijirou.

"So what was it like, visiting your sister's work?" Denki asked her.

"It was fine." She shrugged.

"You're really good at designing costumes, right?" Eijirou asked.

"You should hear about the new costume she designed for herself. It sounds really cool." Tenya added across from her.

"Of course she would design a great costume. Her last one was great-"

"I'm pretty good at making costumes, too. Majima said I have a knack for it." Hanta interrupted.

"He-" Cleo tried to say, but was talked over.

She ended up sitting there quietly for most of the meal, not able to say more than a few words at a time.

20.

Late that night, when she was sure everyone had gone to sleep, Cleo snuck down to the commons area to read and relax. To her relief, Katsuki was there, too. He was alone.

She felt insurmountably more comfortable, wearing her gym pants, tanktop, and hoodie. When she got close, Katsuki looked up at her, and sent the usual glare.

Instead of sitting next to him, she sat on the edge of the couch, giving him some distance.

Without saying anything, she opened up her book, and started to read.

As she silently read, she could feel his eyes on her. He kept shifting, looking between her and the book in his hands, seeming frustrated with something.

"You caused a lot of trouble for me. They won't shut up about the damn pants." Bakugou finally spoke.

"My new costume will hopefully make them shut up. There's nothing else I can fucking do about it, unless you want me to tell them where the pants came from." Cleo stated, not looking up from her book.

"What's new about your costume?" Bakugou asked.

"You'll see." Cleo replied.

In the corner of her eye, she could see him glaring at her.

She couldn't help but smile, and looked up at him. The glare turned from angry to startled, and he looked back at his book.

Cleo looked around them, double checking they were alone. It was a little past midnight, and none of their classmates were nightowls.

"All of the guys in our class are acting like idiots because of you. It's annoying." Bakugou commented.

"It's my mom's fault. She replaced my fucking clothes." Cleo retorted.

"Then your mom's a cunt." Katsuki said, and she turned her gaze to him, surprised to hear that insult from him. She rarely heard him use that kind of language about adults or other people's parents.

"So is yours, but I'm polite enough not to say it outloud." Cleo retorted, and Bakugou set his book on the table, looking ready for a fight. "What, you're able to call other moms cunts but when I do it, it's too far?"

"Fuck off." Bakugou said as he stood, and strode up to her.

She stood up as well, and shoved him back.

He charged at her, tackling her to the ground, and she did one of the rolls they learned in class, causing them to flip and for her to pin him down. Before she could get his arms, he slammed his closed fist into her side, shoved her back, and she barely blocked before he could elbow her in the stomach.

They fought and grappled, hitting each other at every turn, but followed a silent set of rules. They didn't hit the face, they didn't use quirks, and they didn't use their full strength.

By the end, they were breathing hard, with their arms, legs, and midsections covered in bruises. Cleo ended up on top of him, straddling his waist, and trying to catch her breath.

"Loser." Bakugou breathed.

"Wimp." She replied.

He hit her shoulder, and she hit him back, a little harder.

She sat back on his thighs, and chuckled, a smile on her face.

He smiled, too.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile." Cleo commented.

"Fuck off." Bakugou said, but there was no bite in his words.

"Fine." Cleo said, starting to stand up, but he grabbed her wrist, keeping her from moving, and then let go.

There was an awkward pause, with neither of them moving, and then Bakugou was in motion.

He flipped them, so that he was on top, and pinned down her wrists above her.

They heard someone by the elevator.

He immediately jumped off of her, and she jumped up as well, grabbing her book and sitting down on a different couch. Bakugou did the same.

She tried to regulate her breathing, quieting down, and glanced over at whoever was up so late. Tenya, half awake, was walking to the kitchen in his pajamas. He wasn't even wearing his glasses, and paid them no mind.

Once he had disappeared into the kitchen, she looked down at herself, and snorted in laughter.

Her clothes were disheveled, her skin was slick with sweat, and her hair was a mess.

Bakugou didn't look much better.

He looked at her, smiling, too, and then looked away, busying himself with straightening his clothes.

21.

Cleo was sore and tired as she sat in class the next day.

Katsuki almost fell asleep a few times.

In gym class, they did the usual exercises, and then paired up to review hand-to-hand fighting techniques.

Somehow, Cleo ended up paired with Mineta.

"Sensei, I'm not fighting with him." Cleo informed the teacher.

"Then you won't get credit for it." Aizawa replied evenly.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." Mineta said, and then looked at her butt.

"Katsuki, why are you smiling?" Eijiro asked nearby.

Cleo used her wing to smack Mineta hard enough to send him flying across the room, crashing into the wall.

"Do I get credit now?" Cleo asked the teacher.

Aizawa gave her a deadpan expression.

"Pair up with Uraraka." Aizawa told her.

"Thank you, Aizawa." Cleo said with a smile.

22.

Once classes were done, Cleo was disappointed to hear that her fellow students wanted to visit the mall together.

They wouldn't let Cleo say no, and the girls practically pushed her all the way to her room, demanding that she change.

When she came out to the common area, their disappointment was obvious. They didn't say it outloud, but when they looked up at her in anticipation, their expressions fell. She wore her uniform pants, tank top, and hoodie.

"Aren't you going to wear any of those cute clothes your sister got you?" Ochaco asked her.

"No. Do you want them?" Cleo asked with a deadpan expression. Normally she didn't mind acting happy and smiling, but she was tired of people focusing on her clothes. She didn't want to be a fucking sex object for others to gawk.

"Seriously? You don't want them?" Ochaco asked.

"Nope." Cleo replied tiredly, and then yawned into her hand. If people weren't so enthusiastic about this outing, she'd take a nap.

"Where are you losers going?" Bakugou asked as he approached, wearing a black t-shirt and loose pants that were way too big for him.

"We're going to the mall! Want to join us, Ka-chan?" Izuku asked him.

"I need to get something, anyway." Katsuki shrugged indifferently.

The group walked together and took a bus to town, and walked into the mall.

As the large group chatted animatedly, Cleo held back, planning to lose them, and only Katsuki noticed. He followed her to the side, away from the group, and into a small clothing shop. The shop had mostly punk items inside, which fit Cleo's style much more closely than what her mother and sister got her.

"What are you getting?" Cleo asked him. He shrugged, with his hands in his pockets, and looked aimlessly around the store. "Why did you come with us, then?"

"Bored." Katsuki shrugged, and then yawned into his hand.

She smiled and looked away, wondering if he was there because of her.

She looked around at the prices, and even though most of them were out of her budget, she found a pair of skinny jeans that were decently priced.

Then, as she held the pair of jeans in her hands, she thought about her mother's finances.

… she didn't have a job, and she claimed that she got money from her parents, but they weren't that wealthy. How were they able to afford caring for themselves and her mother? Sure, her mother didn't live a lavish lifestyle, but she did have money to spend. Cleo's grandparents put a small amount of money in Cleo's account every month to cover expenditures not covered by the school.

She'd never really considered the question before.

They never struggled.

Feeling someone next to her, she glanced over, finding that Katsuki was sorting through the same clothes rack. Their arms were touching.

"What do you think of these?" Cleo asked him.

"They're better than the shit you were wearing the other day." Katsuki said, and she laughed, agreeing with him.

He gave her a weird look, and she paused, wondering what the reaction was for.

"What?" Cleo asked.

"Nothing… your laugh just sounded different than it does with other people." Katsuki commented as he went back to looking at the sale rack. He pulled out a pair of faded green jeans, and checked the size.

"That's because I don't fake my laughs around you." Cleo replied.

"Oh my gosh you two are so cute!" A feminine voice screeched, and they both froze in place as a familiar head of blue hair appeared. "How long have you been dating?"

"We're not-"

"Oh my gosh that top is cute!" Nejire screeched as she ran across the room to look at a shirt on display.

Cleo awkwardly hurried to the front of the store to pay for the pants, grateful for Nejire's short attention span.

23.

Late that night, after everyone went to bed, Katsuki stayed in the common area, reading a book.

When he was half asleep, someone came to join him. He looked over, only able to see some of the tiny braids of their hair, and then relaxed.

They took a nap together for a few hours, and then went back to their rooms for sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Honey Badger_

The following day, they had another guest speaker.

As he entered, there were gasps in surprise.

He was tall, nearing six feet, with extremely broad shoulders. He wore a formal navy blue suit, had dark hair slicked back, and small mustache. As he walked, he had an air of confidence and power, and a cold stare that demanded respect.

His gaze moved calmly around the room, taking their time, and eventually landed on Cleo in the back.

"Class, this is Tominohara, the founder of one of the most well known hero tech companies, Cerberus." Aizawa introduced.

Izuku's eyes were wide, filled with stars, and he looked like he might pass out.

"From what I've heard, this is a very promising class. You have survived a number of villain attacks and were very impressive in the televised UA competition. Many of you, as you go on to be pros, will be using technology from my company. There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about, from our products to our staff positions that you may be interested in someday.

"Not surprisingly, we're always looking for aspiring costume designers for my company. Even if you don't have the proper training in specifically costume design, if you have enough skill and passion, we'll consider you. For example, Cleo Bacchus has made some impressive costume designs and Majima has recommended her for his program. If she chose to design costumes, she would be considered for a position at my company." He said as he glanced Cleo's direction.

Half the class looked her way.

_No way in hell am I working for your company._ Cleo thought angrily.

"But there are other positions, too. If, let's say you become a pro hero, but you want to take a break from fighting crime, but you also need income. You can work for my company as a costume tester. We need people of all sizes and shapes to test out new material, so no matter where you are in life, you can work for us as a tester. We have a few people that work this position full time, but most of our costume testers are part-time heroes."

As he droned on and on, Cleo kept thinking of different places to stab him with her stumpy wings.

1.

Their class was going on a surprise field trip.

They piled into the van, and almost immediately, they started asking Cleo about the stupid pants.

"Tell us! We're dying to know!" Eijiro pleaded, and there were similar pleads around her.

"Do you people really want to know?" Cleo asked tiredly, and there was a resounding "YES!"

"Would you idiots shut up about the damn pants?!" Bakugou shouted at them.

"I got them from the school lost and found. They happened to be my size." Cleo said.

"No way! You're lying!" Mineta yelled with an accusatory finger pointed her way.

"You have your dumb answer, now shut up!" Bakugou yelled as he punched Mineta, sending him toppling over.

"I don't believe it, either. It's too convenient." Denki added.

"The next person that talks about those dumb pants are going to be murdered by me!" Bakugou shouted as he stood in his seat.

"You don't want to know the true owner of the pants, Bakugou?" Cleo asked innocently.

"Shut up!" Katsuki shouted as he jumped over the seats, over the screaming teenagers, and lunged at Cleo.

She managed to move and shift to get Katsuki under him, sat on him, and hooked her stumps under the seat cushions to keep him still.

"Get the fuck off of me so that I can murder you!" Katsuki screamed as he squirmed and struggled, but her stumps weren't in reach and he was stuck.

"Bakugou, if you use your quirk in here, you'll be expelled." Aizawa told him from the front of the bus.

"WHAT!?" Bakugou shouted in anger.

Bakugou bucked and struggled, trying to escape, but that did nothing to help him.

"Aren't you going to do anything, teacher?" Mina asked.

He shrugged indifferently, going back to his book. "Don't break anything."

"Get off of me so that I can murder you!" Bakugou shouted under her.

"But if I let you go, you murder me." Cleo pointed out.

"Exactly!"

"That's a reason for me to not let you go." Cleo informed him.

"Shut up and let me go!" Bakugou yelled as he continued to squirm and struggle, all the while trying to not use his quirk.

"Wow, Cleo, I didn't know your wings were so strong!" Mina complimented over Bakugou's yells and threats.

"Thanks!" Cleo replied.

"Once I get out I will MURDER YOU!" Bakugou shouted.

2.

Bakugou fumed and glared at the back of Cleo's head.

He'd underestimated just how strong those stumps were.

As the museum guide droned on about the history of heroes in Japan, he plotted ways to get revenge.

Then, he noticed Deku staring at him.

Bakugou shifted his glare, causing the stupid kid to cringe in horror.

"What are you looking at?" Bakugou snapped in a low voice.

They were at the back of the group. Everyone else was busy listening to the guide.

"You like her, don't you?" Deku asked.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes further, causing Deku to squirm uncomfortably.

"I-I saw you two together the other night. I think it's great." Deku stuttered.

If they weren't in such a public space, he'd kill him.

Deku just smiled and looked back at the guide.

Bakugou didn't know it was possible to hate Deku more than he already did.

3.

During their lunch break, Katsuki and Cleo wandered off, going a few blocks away to a cheap ramen place.

On their way, they encountered a lost kid, who was crying and wandering around aimlessly. He looked to be around six years old, wearing a blue baseball cap and matching shirt.

Cleo knelt down in front of him, and in a calm voice asked if he was lost.

"THEN GET LOST AGAIN, YOU LITTLE TWERP!" Bakugou shouted, scaring the kid into running off. Thankfully, they ran straight into the legs of a police officer, who was much better at handling him.

Cleo turned, giving him a look, and he gave her a confused one in turn.

"What?" Bakugou asked.

"Do you know how to deal with people who are upset and choose not to, or have you legitimately not been taught how to empathize with people?" Cleo asked in a calm voice.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Bakugou snapped.

"It means that, when people are upset, you have to act a certain way to make them not upset anymore. Otherwise, they get more upset and become difficult to handle. When you're saving people's lives, their reaction to you could mean life or death for them. You need to learn how to handle them. It's why you failed the license exam." Cleo said, and he glared at her.

For a moment, he seemed to contemplate her words.

"Is that why you smile and act weird around people all the time?" Bakugou asked.

"Yes. Growing up, my mom would start crying whenever I raised my voice. I learned early on that manipulating your voice and using specific words will get you certain results. I also volunteered at a local hospital growing up, so I learned from the nurses how to handle certain people." Cleo explained.

"But people should just know that I'm going to beat the bad guy up and protect them." Bakugou argued.

"If they're upset and panicked, they'll freak out over any loud voices and violence. They could do something stupid in response. Your yelling at someone in a delicate situation could get them, or you, killed." Cleo explained.

"If they get killed that way, it's because they were being dumb." Katsuki retorted, and they walked into the ramen shop. They were able to sit on stools on the edge of the counter, with an empty chair between them and the other customers.

"Have you ever had to deal with someone having a panic attack?" Cleo asked.

"No. Panic attacks are dumb." Katsuki retorted.

"A lot of people have them. When you're a hero, you'll have to deal with them a lot. The more dangerous villains leave the most traumatized victims." Cleo told him.

They placed their order.

"... alright, then how do I deal with them?" Bakugou caved.

"One of the most important things is to have a low voice. The next, is find out their name. When you know their name, you can use it in conversation, and they'll feel like they can trust you." Cleo explained.

"Why does their name matter? They're just extras." Bakugou asked, seriously, and Cleo started to laugh.

4.

That night, after everyone went to bed, Katsuki and Cleo sat next to each other on the couch, quietly reading.

As her heart raced in her chest, she crept her hand over to one of his, and caressed the side of his hand.

He froze in place, muscles tensing.

She kept going, interlacing their fingers.

As she went back to reading, she passively caressed the side of his hand with her thumb, and he shifted to hold his book with his other hand.

Sparks flew up her arm, and a dumb smile tugged at her lips.

The next day, Cleo got her new costume.

She was beyond excited to try it out.

They started the day with going over first responder training, and running through prepared lines to get them comfortable with a victim that was injured.

Cleo was paired up with Ochaco, and the nurse went around offering advice when she could.

The exercise was easy enough. One person would lay on the ground, pretending to be injured, and the other would play the hero. They'd read the script, ask questions, and when they felt comfortable enough with the situation, were allowed to go off script to deal with the situation.

As Ochaco and Cleo switched positions, Cleo overheard Bakugou with Eijiro.

"Tell me your name or I'll kill you." Bakugou whispered intensely at Eijiro, who was pretending to be injured on the ground.

"... that was the creepiest thing I have ever witnessed." Eijiro said, and upon realizing Bakugou's mistake, Cleo burst into laughter.

"Shut up!" Bakugou shouted her, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment.

She imagined him doing it again, whispering to some terrified injured person about murdering them, and started laughing more.

She held her stomach and mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.

"What happened?" Ochaco asked.

"Shut up!" Bakugou shouted at her.

Cleo grinned, finally ceasing her laughs. Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

"You're supposed to have a calm, low volume voice. I didn't mean whisper. You also shouldn't threaten to murder someone when you're asking for their name." Cleo told him.

"How else do I learn their name?" Bakugou asked.

"You ask them politely." Cleo said.

"I was being polite." Bakugou retorted.

"Threatening to murder people isn't polite." Eijiro added.

"The way I do it is." Bakugou replied.

"No, it's not, it's terrifying." Eijiro told him.

"This is stupid and a waste of time." Bakugou stated.

"You need this training more than anyone." Eijiro told him, and recoiled at the death stare he received.

"Bakugou, just read the script." Aizawa said from his seat.

"Fine." Bakugou grumbled angrily, and looked back at the script. He was supposed to tap Eijiro three times on the shoulder and ask if he was okay.

Instead, he hit Eijiro as hard as he could on the shoulder, and screamed, "ARE YOU OKAY MORON!?"

5.

After that, they went to a closed off forested area.

In costume.

Cleo was the last to get there.

As she arrived, the group slowly turned, their eyes going wide in astonishment.

Instead of a brightly colored costume, she now wore all black with gray "bones" attached to her. She looked like a pterodactyl skeleton, with even a helmet with a skull shape designed on it.

Her wings now had webbing that could be folded up when needed. If, let's say, she needed to impale something, she could unzip her webbing so that her stumps were on their own. When she needed them back, she just pressed a button to reattach them.

Bakugou had an excited grin on his face, and his hands sparked.

"That looks… different." Mina commented.

"That looks cool!" Eijiro and several other said, and overall, they seemed excited and supportive.

Once they calmed down, Aizawa started to explain the activity they had planned.

"Each of you will have one of these colored balls attached to you. Your goal is to get as many as you can before the time is up. Before we start, all of you will have five minutes to go to any spot in the forested area." Aizawa explained.

After getting her assigned bright yellow ball, Cleo disappeared into the forest with her comrades.

Everyone was pumped to get going. They were excited to challenge each other and do their best.

That wasn't going to be enough against Cleo that day.

She was excited to try out her new gear.

Once she was away from the others, she crouched down and patiently waited.

Minutes rolled by, until finally, the buzzer went off.

The ball was securely attached to her side.

She leaped into the air, like she'd done so many times, and soared.

Not being able to feel the wind under her wings was strange, but the new material was pretty close. Muscle memory took over from there.

Once she was high enough, she used a heat seeking function in her helmet to find her classmates.

Unsurprisingly, Bakugou was giving off the most heat, and was screaming at the top of his lungs about killing people. The others were relatively quiet.

Also unsurprisingly, Bakugou was the first to launch an attack.

He used explosions to propel himself into the air, heading straight for her.

When he got close enough, she used a tiny shock pellet to shock him, distracting him long enough to grab the ball on his chest, and then darted into the area below, going straight for her next target.

6.

"She was like that alien from Predator." Eijiro spoke as they lounged in the common area after school.

Bakugou quietly seethed, his hands balled into fists. His arms were crossed over his chest, mouth set in a fine grimace, and he kept going over what happened in his head.

That wasn't a proper fight. She ran from him.

She didn't win.

"She did have the element of surprise on her side. She's really good with gadgets." Sue said.

"She's good without them, too." Tenya commented. "I wonder if she could help me come up with another costume design. Tominohara said she was really good."

Bakugou grunted again.

He would have won if she hadn't run.

7.

Cleo sat in the back of the limo with her mother, confused about what was going on.

There was a dress hung up next to her, covered in see through plastic. The object swayed as the car moved with traffic.

Her mother's make makeup was smudged. Her cheeks wet, eyes watery, and lips trembled.

She held Cleo's hands, her nails digging into Cleo's skin.

"Your sister will lose her job if you don't do this." Her mother said.

"Do what?" Cleo asked.

"Mr. Tominohara is waiting for you." Her mother said, and a tremor of fear surged through her.

"No. No, I'm not doing that, mom." Cleo said.

She wouldn't let go of her hands.

"I wouldn't be asking you unless it was necessary. Please." Her mother pleaded.

"I'm not a hooker!" Cleo screamed.

Her mother recoiled, covering her ears, and started crying again.

She looked so small and helpless.

"D-do you want people to know w-what you did to me? What your father did to me? Do you want me and your sister to become whores to pay the bills? Are you going to be like your father?" Her mother asked, and Cleo's heart tore into tiny pieces with every word.

"N-no-"

"How do you think your classmates will treat you? Your teachers? Friends? Your hero career will be over. You'll have to be a villain or a whore."

Cleo looked down at her lap, her arms trembling.

She gripped her hands, wringing them together.

_She's asking me to do this._

_She's really asking me to do this._

"Look at what you did to me." Her mother snapped, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. She had pulled her shirt down to show the disfigured scars across her chest.

"Show me how sorry you are." Her mother said.

Cleo shook and trembled as her mother dressed her.

The air was cold.

She couldn't stop shaking.

Everything blurred together as her mother walked her into the hotel.

She went with her into the elevator.

Down the hallway.

Cleo's foot wobbled with the heels.

They stopped in front of the door.

Her mother knocked.

Her heart raced in her chest.

Her mother left before the door opened.

8.

2 hours later, Cleo came back out to the limo.

She got inside.

Closed the door.

Her mother was looking at her phone.

Cleo felt like throwing up.

"How did it go?" Her mother asked.

"... h-he seemed to like me. He wants me to c-come back." Cleo stuttered, staring down at her hands again.

She'd never felt so scared before.

So shaken.

He wanted to "save her" for a different day. He wanted her to stay "pure" in the meantime.

He made a lot of promises.

"You did good. This goes without mentioning, but this never happened." Her mother said in a cold voice. Cleo slowly nodded.

The rest of the drive was a blur.

She didn't remember getting inside the dorms again, or to her room.

She sat down on the bed, still in the dress, and just stared at the wall, wondering what she was going to do.

9.

Katsuki yawned from his seat the next morning, and rubbed his tired eyes.

A slight scent wafted up from the gesture, and he frowned. He'd forgotten to wash his clothes, so now, he had to wear slightly worn clothes with a smell.

He briefly wondered if Cleo would judge him for it. Bakugou was a lot of things, but his mother had drilled into him basic hygiene. That was one of the only things that stuck.

He wasn't going to be a smelly hero.

Making sure that no one was looking away, he discretely smelled himself.

He scrunched up his nose in disgust.

Hopefully they wouldn't be moving around much that day.

People were slowly filtering into the room, yawning or exuberantly talking about hero related things. Tenya, of course, had been there since before Bakugou arrived. He kept looking at the door, as if waiting for someone.

When Cleo walked in, Tenya jumped to his feet. He was excited to talk to her at every opportunity.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tenya asked.

She looked up at him with a dazed expression.

"You missed jogging this morning." Tenya said.

"... sorry. Overslept." Cleo said in a hollow voice.

"Are you okay?" Tenya asked.

"Tired." Cleo replied, just above a whisper, and walked around him.

She was wearing the girl's uniform.

Bakugou watched her as she moved, unnerved by the blank expression on her face. He'd never seen her so out of it before.

Her black and orange hair was unkempt, not in the usual big braid, but down and bending at weird angles. Her wing stumps were in black cloth, which wasn't unsurprising, but was wrinkly like her clothes. There were bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept, and she seemed unaware of her surroundings.

She sat in her seat, as if moving on autopilot, and pulled out her homework for the day.

"You look like shit." Bakugou told her.

No response.

"Did you hear me?" Bakugou asked.

"Leave me alone." She said in a low voice, not looking at him.

"What happened?" Bakugou asked.

Someone approached them, and Bakugou looked up, seeing Tenya there.

"Fuck off!" Bakugou shouted at him, causing him to jump in alarm and nearly fall over.

"I just came to ask if Cleo is okay. She looks sick." Tenya explained, and coiled at Bakugou's venomous glare.

"She's fine, leave her the fuck alone." Bakugou told him.

Tenya looked between them for a moment, looking back and forth, and finally nodded and went back to his seat.

"Thanks." Cleo said in a low voice.

"You fuck off, too." Bakugou shouted at her.

10.

Bakugou was unlucky that day. Instead of having a chill day in the classroom, they took a field trip over to the police station in town.

They could have technically walked, but it was just far enough that the teachers wanted to take a bus. The drive would be short.

Bakugou and Cleo ended up in the back, with no one to look too closely. Todoroki and Momo sat in front of them, and while Todoroki didn't care, Momo was caught up in conversation with Mina.

Cleo shifted slightly, so that she was slouched with her propped up on the seat in front of them. As she pulled out her phone, pulling up a mindless game, she simultaneously reached for his hand and discretely hid it under her thigh. They were close enough that if anyone did happen to look over, they probably wouldn't notice.

He tried not to think about what his hand was near.

He distracted himself with his phone, and after a few seconds, felt her hand tighten around his.

He looked at her face, finding that she still had that dead look on her face, but now looked closer to crying.

He squeezed her hand back, and she shuddered out a small breath, focusing back on her game.

11.

As Cleo walked with the others, staying close to Bakugou towards the back, she wished that she could go back to the dorms and hide under her covers. She wanted to sit alone, in the darkness, with no voices or lights.

She had no social energy left. Smiling was too hard. Basic interaction was too hard.

Bakugou had been surprisingly comforting. He was already so obnoxious on a daily basis, that his outbursts had been chalked up to Bakugou being Bakugou. Apparently, he could be discreet when he wanted to be.

As the police officers talked about their job and showed them around the station, Cleo couldn't absorb any of it. She smelled the faint scent of coffee, all of the gray cubicles blended together, and the cells looked like stereotypical cells. Apparently, in the basement, there were special cells for people with dangerous quirks.

Her classmates were loud. They made jokes.

Some of them glanced her way. Occasionally, she caught whispers about her.

She wondered if this is what her life will be like. Having wine with old men and living in fear of anyone finding out who she really is.

"I encourage everyone to come forward about any information. Since you're all so young, you won't get into very much trouble. No matter what, if you come across information that could help in an investigation, tell an adult. A lot of heroes are afraid of losing their hero status if they're caught doing things illegal, but if it helps us catch a bigger villain, we'll sometimes overlook the smaller crimes."

The Chief of Police locked eyes with her.

He knew.

"Thank you, Haroden." Aizawa said.

Cleo looked around, and no one looked her way, so she guessed that the look went unnoticed by them.

A high pitched sound suddenly filled the air.

Cleo looked around, searching for the source, and watched as everyone around her dropped to the floor.

Unconscious.

She kept looking around, watching as the police officers dropped to the ground.

Bodies crumbled.

Cups fell.

Outside the large window, people walked by, seeming to be unaffected.

They were by the entrance of the building, and through the glass doors, she watched as two people walked in. One of them was large, wearing a trenchcoat and hat, while the other was much smaller and leaner, wearing the same.

Both of them walked past the metal detector. Even though it went off, there was no one to stop them.

Once they got past the doors, they paused, looking at her.

Somehow, she knew who it was.

Even though she had never met him in person, she knew.

He pulled down the scarf around the lower half of his face, revealing his features. His yellow snake eyes locked with her normal ones, his dark scales glinting in the light.

"We've cut off all the cameras and recording devices." The Demon King said, his voice deep and gruff.

For a moment, her mind went blank.

… she was meeting her father for the first time.

"Should we kill her?" His companion asked.

"No. That's not necessary. We're here for Lione, nothing else." The Demon King said.

"Why did you butcher my wings?" Cleo asked, and her wings twitched.

She kept her eyes on him.

"She got you, too, eh?" He asked in a calm voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Cleo asked.

"We don't have time." The shorter one said.

"You go ahead. I'll stay behind and make sure this young hero doesn't interfere." The Demon King said.

The shorter one looked between them for a moment, and after a few seconds, started walking away.

"Oh, and I should warn you, if you try to interfere, I will fight you, and you will be severely injured. Though, if that witch is after you, I suspect that I'm the least of your problems." The Demon King said.

"What does that mean? Who attacked me?" Cleo asked.

There was a loud sound downstairs. As he looked away, she tapped her bracelet, which would alert all authorities in the area that she was in trouble.

"A woman I used to work with. I used to have wings, too." He said, and beneath his coat, the back moved slightly, as if he had wings, too. "I attacked her once out of rage, and for our time working together, she'd never let me forget it. She talked about it constantly to guilt me into doing her whim. She would show me her scars, reminding me of how violent I was, and when I started thinking of leaving, she took my wings to make me dependent on her. So our partnership ended."

Cleo's body froze.

_Were they a couple? Were they actually work partners, like he's insinuating?_

_Did I even make those scars?_

She thought about her mother's scars, and she'd always been amazed by how expansive they were. How had a child caused so much damage?

There was sound coming from where his partner had disappeared, and now, they were accompanied by someone else. The new person had wide, crazed eyes that took in everything around her, but when they locked on Cleo, they froze.

His lips pulled back to reveal dozens of sharpened teeth.

He was short, about half a foot shorter than her, and was hunched over. He licked his lips with a long tongue, looking her up and down, and made a strange hissing sound.

Cleo brought her wing stumps up, pointing them at him in a threatening way.

"We don't have time. Leave her." The Demon King said, but as he turned to leave, paused when he looked outside. Then, he turned to Cleo, and let out a sigh.

She realized that people had stopped walking outside.

"She set off an alarm. We're surrounded." The Demon King said.

The group turned to her.

If her classmates weren't unconscious around her, she'd run.

They were still making the high-pitched sound. She guessed that the source was the second trench coat wearing one.

"Can I eat her now?" The crazed villain asked, and licked his lips.

"Call the Honey Badger." The Demon King instructed. The second one nodded and pulled out his phone.

The grinning villain inched closer to her.

"You've made things much more difficult than they needed to be… what did you say your name was?" The Demon King asked.

"Cleo." She replied.

"Cleo… it's very unfortunate, for you, that you stayed awake for this." The Demon King said, and made some kind of gesture at the crazed villain.

Those teeth bounded forward, running at her quickly, and she braced herself as she smacked him with her wings, not holding back her strength.

His body smashed into the wall, cracking the concrete, and he fell to the ground.

He lay on the ground. Unconscious.

Her heart raced.

She stayed ready for another attack.

"Then we'll do something else."

He moved so fast she didn't see him coming.

In an instant, her wings were bound and his hand was on her neck, crushing her windpipe.

She wasn't able to use the second half of her quirk.

She gripped at his arm, but that was no use. She moved and squirmed, trying to escape, and started seeing dots.

The last thing she saw, before she passed out, was his cold yellow eyes speckled with orange dots.

She hoped that he wouldn't kill anyone else.

She went limp.

12.

Katsuki woke up to screaming and explosions.

"What's going on?" People echoed around him, and he sat up, shaking his head from the double vision.

"Lione is gone!" Someone shouted.

More explosions.

Something was happening outside.

There was yelling and screaming outside.

As he tried to figure out what was going on, he looked over, and saw that Cleo was still unconscious. There were fresh bruises around her neck, and unlike the others, she wasn't moving.

He reached over to her neck, and was relieved to find her pulse.

"Cleo!" Katsuki yelled over the chaos.

Someone tripped over her foot as they tried to get by, and more seemed to be coming.

"Everyone from 1-A, follow Tenya downstairs to safety!" Aizawa yelled at them.

Everyone else was panicked, asking what was going on, and Aizawa kept repeating those instructions.

Katsuki leaned down, reaching under her back and legs, and carefully picked her up into his arms. She hung limp against him, and a cold chill ran down his spine.

A body smashed into the window, but didn't break it. Cracks formed along the glass, and blood trailed down. There was loud growling coming from outside.

Katsuki really wanted to fight whatever was out there.

Police officers kept running past.

Aizaway suddenly appeared in front of him, asking about Cleo's status.

"She won't wake up!" Katsuki yelled.

"Follow Tenya downstairs. Once you're all down there and safe, I'll send a medic when I'm able. Keep her safe." Aizawa instructed, and Katsuki nodded with a grunt, and started following his other classmates through the accumulating smoke.

As he turned down the hallway, he heard glass smashing behind him, and turned to see massive dogs coming into the station. They were large, rabid, and frothing at the mouth, angrily tearing everything apart in their path.

A smaller one broke from the path, running towards him at full speed, and he kicked the dog as hard as he could, sending it tumbling back.

Katsuki carefully walked back, not taking his eyes off of it, and watched as a chair was flung into the dog, momentarily sending it back.

One of the officers started bashing it with a baton, caving the dog's skull, and looked up just as a giant dog tumbled in and latched its jaws around its head.

In a blur, something hit it, sending the dog flying back, and Izuku caught the officer before they fell.

Katsuki grit his teeth.

He was one of the only people without a provisional hero license.

"Bakugou, Midoria, get downstairs! The animals carry some kind of disease that affect anything they bite, including humans. Get downstairs and close the door, that's an order!" Aizawa yelled at them.

The person in Deku's arms lunged awkwardly, and started to foam at the mouth.

Deku dropped him, his eyes wide in terror, and his arms trembled.

"Go!" Aizawa yelled.

Katsuki turned, hoping that his teacher would cover his retreat, and went after the backs of his classmates. Tenya had waited to make sure that they didn't get separated.

Deku was soon next to him as they followed Tenya through the building, to the back, and then down a staircase. He remembered this from the tour; they kept the more dangerous criminals downstairs, which also doubled as a bunker.

In the basement, there was a room between the stairs and the cells. They didn't have a key to get into the cells, so they were stuck in the main room.

"What happened to Cleo?" Deku asked him.

"Fuck if I know." Katsuki said, and pushed through the group to a row of chairs, where he set Cleo down.

"She must have not been knocked out the same way we were. Maybe whatever affected us, didn't affect her." Deku suggested.

"So they knocked her out a different way." Katsuki nodded, and slapped her cheek. "Wake up!"

"Maybe not be so mean, Ka-chan!" Deku said, and Katsuki sent him a glare.

"What's wrong with Cleo? Was she hurt in the attack?" Tenya asked as he came over.

"I think she tried to fight whoever attacked us. She wasn't knocked out by whatever knocked us out." Deku theorized.

A scream came from nearby, and Katsuki turned, finding that Mina and Yuuga were screaming and pointing at the door.

One of the police officers, while foaming at the mouth, was pushing the door open to get inside.

"DIE, ZOMBIE!" Katsuki yelled as he punched the rabid officer, using his explosion quirk to propel him further, and sent him flying up the stairs again.

"We don't know if they're dead, that could have killed him!" Deku yelled.

"Bakugou, you're the only one without a hero license. We'll take care of the door, you watch Cleo." Tenya ordered, and Bakugou sent him a scathing glare.

He was telling him not to fight.

Ice suddenly appeared, freezing the door and stairs, blocking off the entrance and sending a cold chill through the air.

"But now Aizawa can't get in." Sue pointed out.

"The teacher wanted us to be safe here. We can't leave the door open and be safe. This will protect us from anyone that tries to get in." Shouto reasoned.

13.

Heroes had to block off the area for almost a mile.

Everything was in chaos.

The virus was lethal and spread too quickly.

They didn't have a cure yet.

Helicopters flew over the hellscape.

People, not yet bitten, were saved from rooftops.

Most heroes that went in to save people, ended up bitten and ravenous like the others.

Aizawa had been one of the people evacuated from the Police Station roof.

Several teachers and the principal from UA joined him on the sidelines, joining the other fearful and panicked heroes that tried their best to protect people. A lot of heroes had already fallen, and setting up the barrier was the best they could do to keep it from spreading.

"What exactly happened?" The furry principal asked Aizawa, who had blood spattered on his clothes. Just like the others, Aizawa had trouble comprehending the bloodshed he'd seen.

"I was with the class in the Police Station, when we were knocked out by some kind of sound. When I woke up, there were rabid dogs attacking people in the street, and I noticed that when they bit the people, they turned ravenous, too. It's like a zombie plague out there." Aizawa explained.

"What about our students?"

"I told them to hide in the basement until everything cleared over. I didn't realize that things would get this bad." Aizawa explained.

"They're still down there?" All Might asked in alarm.

"I'm sure that Shouto has blocked the door with his ice quirk. They should be safe." Aizawa told them.

"Have you made contact with them since the outbreak?" All Might asked.

"Not yet. I've just been trying to help the others and figure out what's going on." Aizawa said, feeling guilty and helpless as he stood there with his peers.

His quirk was useless against this kind of threat.

He'd been helpless to protect his students.

"Do they have their phones on them?" All Might asked, and Aizawa nodded. The famous hero pulled out his phone and immediately dialed a number, bringing it to his ear. For several seconds, the small group waited with bated breath. "Midoria!"

With the exclamation, they all sighed in relief.

"Is everyone okay?" All Might asked, and he slowly nodded. "Does she have any other injuries? Is anyone else hurt?"

_Is Cleo still passed out?_ Aizawa wondered.

"Some kind of disease has run loose in the area, do no leave the basement. Do you have any supplies where you are? Food? Water?"

Aizawa anxiously gestured for All Might to pass him the phone.

"What happened to Cleo?" Aizawa asked into the phone.

"There are bruises on her neck. We think that whatever knocked us out didn't work on her, so they knocked her out by strangling her. She hasn't woken up yet, and no one else was hurt. We couldn't get into the other room where the cells are, so we're just stuck in the room outside there, and we can't find any supplies like food and water. Just chairs and two doorways." Midoria explained.

An officer was supposed to have opened the door for them to get to the failsafe room. Evidently, he didn't get that far.

They hadn't taken any bags with them. They had no supplies.

"For now, I need all of you to stay calm. If anything happens, call All Might's number. We're working on a plan to get you out safely. Also, when Cleo wakes up, call me. Since she was awake, she might have information that can help." Aizawa instructed.

After relaying more information, he started working with the teachers to figure out a way to get them out.

14.

They'd been there for an hour.

Katsuki was going insane.

He didn't have a hero license, so he couldn't use his quirk on the zombies without permission. His teacher ordered him to stay in this dumb room with his classmates, so he was stuck.

He paced the side of the room, his hands sparking every so often, and he grumbled about not being able to go outside and kill everyone.

"Would you stop pacing? It's making me anxious." Mashirao requested. He was seated on the floor, like many others, with his large tail curled around him.

"Fuck off!" Bakugou yelled at him.

Deku glanced up at him, kneeling in front of Cleo. He'd been watching her sleep constantly and glancing at his phone every two minutes.

Everyone, after texting their family members that they were okay, turned off their phones to conserve battery. If they were going to be here a while, they needed a way to contact their teachers.

Bakugou was about to yell at Deku for looking at him, but then, he noticed Cleo shifting behind him.

Slowly, her eyes started to open.

"Cleo!" Tenya cried out, and she flinched at the sound. Everyone crowded around her, checking on her, and blocked off Bakugou's view of her.

He was slightly peeved by that, but he was more annoyed at not being able to kill zombies.

15.

Cleo tried to get her bearings before contacting Aizawa.

Her head felt foggy, her neck sore, and body heavy, as if she'd just woken up from a heavy sleep.

Tenya filled her in on the basics of what was going on.

People had been worried about her.

As she rubbed her damp and clammy face, she thought about what her father had told her. How he described her mother and everything she did so precisely.

Her wings were only butchered right after she called her mom saying that she wanted to quit.

Then, she guilted her into doing something that would make Cleo even more dependent on her.

_I should have known that I couldn't hurt her so badly, even in my second form. It was too easy to control._

_What else was she lying about?_

She pulled out her phone, and noticed that she'd received a lot of text messages in the last hour.

"We're all conserving battery by turning off our phones. You can text your family to let them know you're okay, but then you need to turn your phone off." Tenya told her.

Cleo ignored him and made the call.

She brought the phone to her ear.

After a few rings, the familiar sound of her mother's groveling voice came from the speaker.

"Oh, honey, I'm so glad to hear from you! I was so worried about my baby girl! I miss you so much! Are you okay? You're outside the barrier, right?"

Cleo paused, considering her words carefully.

"Mom… where did those scars come from?" Cleo asked.

"... what?" She replied.

"Where did those scars come from?" Cleo repeated.

There was a pause.

She could hear her breathing.

Then, a beep, signalling that the line had been cut.

Cleo brought the phone from her ear, watching the glowing device, and did as Tenya had requested, turning it off.

She held out her hand to Izuku, who had the phone to contact their teachers.

"Are you okay?" Izuku asked.

"Give me the phone." Cleo said in a low, even voice.

He did so, and she went through his logs, calling the last number, All Might.

Aizawa answered.

"Before I was knocked out, the Demon King said that he was calling someone named 'Honey Badger'." Cleo told him.

"The Demon King is involved? Tell me exactly what happened while we were knocked out." Aizawa told her.

Everyone in the room got quiet, listening to her talk.

"Two people walked into the station. One of them was making a high-pitched sound, which is what knocked all of you out. The Demon King stayed by the door, making sure that I didn't interfere, while the second person went somewhere to get someone named Lione. I'm guessing the cops were holding him downstairs. Anyway, when the Demon King looked away, I set off the alarm in my bracelet. Just as they were about to leave, they realized that reinforcements had come.

"Lione, the guy with teeth, ran at me. I hit them with my wing and knocked them out. The Demon King was too fast, though. I thought he was going to kill me." Cleo explained.

There was a pause on the other end.

She guessed that he was absorbing all the information.

"Do you know why he didn't kill you?" Aizawa asked.

"... I don't know. I can explain my theory in person. How are things going out there?" Cleo asked. Tenya and the others seemed to be largely in the dark as to what was happening outside, probably to keep them from panicking.

"There's a virus that's making people violent. It spreads through biting. Don't let anything foaming at the mouth get near you. We're still trying to work on a plan to get all of you out, but for now, you're safest where you are." Aizawa explained.

"If it's a virus, is there a cure for it?" Cleo asked.

"We're working on it, but the process is slow. We're hoping that it's a quirk based virus that will stop after a certain length of time." Aizawa said, and she paused, wondering if she should tell him everything.

Once they were in person, and alone, she would, but… she didn't want to risk telling all of her classmates when they were so worried about what was happening outside. They were in a very dangerous situation, and Cleo didn't want to be in here if they started turning on each other.

"Do you know why the Police Chief was holding a member of the Slither Gang in the basement while we were here?" Cleo asked.

"... since he's dead, I don't think there's harm in saying this, but he suspected that the Demon King was coming after you. He suspected that he'd already made contact with you. I wasn't aware that he had a member of the Slithers in the basement, though, or else I wouldn't have brought the class there." Aizawa explained.

"My mom has an interesting theory about that. If you're running into dead ends with the cure, I suggest you pay her a visit." Cleo suggested.

"Your mother? Does she have a connection to the Slither Gang?" Aizawa asked.

"I don't know, it's just a hunch based on something the Demon King said." Cleo replied.

"... alright, I'll look into that. Is there anything else you can tell me? Any information that the Demon King may have said that could help us?" Aizawa asked.

"I've told you everything I remember. If I think of anything, I'll call." Cleo said.

"Hang tight." Aizawa said, and hung up.

Cleo passed the phone back to Izuku.

16.

Two hours later, their teachers found a hero whose quirk was to send items through phone connections, so they were able to get food and water.

To keep everyone in high spirits, Tenya kept encouraging people to play games.

Cleo sat on the side of the room, furthest from the laughing group, between Katsuki and Shouto. They were the only ones that Tenya couldn't rope in to play, after incessant pestering, and they couldn't risk a fight in such a small space.

They had plenty of food and water, they just had to wait.

Plenty of time for Cleo to stew in the information she'd learned.

Thud.

She hit the back of her head against the wall.

She was a fucking moron.

She had been played for _years_, and had absolutely no idea. She almost slept with a man twice her age last night.

She gripped her thighs, digging her nails into her skin.

Her mom was probably a villain, too. She probably wanted a hero daughter to help her cover up her crimes. Once Cleo was in too deep, too deep to rat her out, she'd be stuck doing her mother's dirty work.

Thud.

She hit her head against the wall again.

People wouldn't be dying if it wasn't for her. If she hadn't sounded the alarm, then they wouldn't have resorted to violence. They wouldn't have unleashed "Honey Badger."

If she'd told the police sooner about her dad, they could have caught her mom, and maybe used her to catch the Demon King.

Thud.

"Stop hitting your fucking head." Katsuki barked next to her.

She didn't have a good response for him.

She just wanted to get out of here and make things right.

Thud.

"Knock it off. You're going to give yourself brain damage." Katsuki said with a glare.

"So what? Those people wouldn't be dead if I hadn't set off the alarm." Cleo snapped back.

"What happened isn't your fault. If anything, it's the Police Chief's fault. He should have been better prepared to defend against the Slithers." Shouto said, sitting lazily next to her.

"No one would have been hurt if I hadn't set off the alarm. They would have had a clean get away with no bloodshed." Cleo pointed out.

"They're villains who do bad things. You can't be held accountable for the things they do while you're trying to stop them." Shouto reasoned.

She thought about last night, sitting with Tominohara.

His cologne smelled like cedar.

"I need to get out of here." Cleo said as she moved to stand, and got closer to the iced off door. If she activated the second part of her quirk, she could use her talons to break the ice.

"Sit down and shut up." Katsuki said as he stood and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.

"You can stay here, I don't care." Cleo snapped at him.

"You can't even use your wings, how do you expect to fight those zombies?" Katsuki asked her.

"They're not zombies." Shouto said, also standing.

They were ganging up on her.

She pulled at the bindings on her wings.

Whatever the Demon King did to them, it was strong and wouldn't come undone.

"They might as well be zombies. I need to leave." Cleo said, turning towards the ice door again, and grit her teeth as she saw more ice appear in front of the door.

Katsuki grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

_Maybe I can activate the second part of my quirk without the scales. Only do the internal change._

She tried to yank her arm back, but he kept his grip, keeping her in place, and narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'll freeze you if I have to." Shouto added.

"What's going on?" Tenya asked them.

Cleo pulled against Katsuki's arm, breaking free, but then her feet wouldn't move. She looked down, finding that her feet had been iced to the spot.

She started to shift into her second half of her quirk form, but stopped, feeling the familiar jabbing in her back below the wings.

All that would result would be injuries.

If she was just fighting one of them, she'd be fine, but there was no way that she could fight Shouto and Katsuki at the same time. Not without her gear and wings, at least.

"Cleo tried to run." Katsuki answered Tenya.

"Shouto, remove your ice." Cleo told him.

"No." Shouto replied, his cool eyes watching her with a look of indifference.

"Cleo, why don't you play with us? Maybe it'll help you get your mind off of things?" Ochaco suggested with a smile.

_They're doing the dumb smile to calm down the panicked idiot they're supposed to save._

If Cleo fought, she had no chance of winning, though. At best she could get the building to cave in on them from so many teenagers using their quirks at once.

She took a calming breath, her jaw clenched, and exhaled.

"I'll go meditate in the corner. Let my feet go." Cleo told Shouto.

His blue and red eyes met her brown ones for a moment, and after a few seconds deliberation, the hold was released.

Cleo walked over to the corner, which was a few feet from Bakugou, and sat down.

She glared at all of them.

She wanted to leave.

Katsuki came over, plopping down in front of her, and told her to turn around.

"Why?" Cleo asked.

"So I can burn whatever is binding your wings. If we end up having to fight in order to get out of here, you'll need those." Katsuki explained.

She did as he requested, turning around so that her back was to him, and she grunted as he roughly grabbed her wings and moved them around, as if she couldn't feel what he was doing.

As he did tiny explosions, trying to get the binding off, she flinched from the random bursts of heat.

"Do your wings have scales?" Bakugou asked.

She paused.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Some of the fabric burned off already." Katsuki replied.

Cleo let out a tired sigh.

"Yeah. They grew scales after the webbing was bitten off. I don't know why." Cleo said, half lying. He seemed to accept the answer as he went back to trying to break the binding.

After a few minutes of trying to rid her of the binding, it finally broke and she was able to spread her wings again.

The bottom section of the covers slipped off, so that everyone could see her black scaley tips.

She turned, so that she faced Katsuki again, and brought one of her wings in front of her, to assess the damage. Whatever the binding was, it was thick and hard to burn. It seemed to have melted into the fabric and into Cleo's scales.

She had no idea how she was going to get it off.

Realizing that Katsuki had been quiet for a while, she looked up, and found that he was staring at the dark scales. He seemed pensive and thoughtful, which was rare for him.

"So your stumps grew scales." He suddenly commented.

She punched his shoulder.

Izuku's phone started to ring.

He answered it.

Everyone became silent.

Izuku slowly followed along.

"It seems like the longer we wait, the worse it gets." Izuku commented. "I trust you, All Might…. Uh, everything has been mostly okay. People are getting antsy, though, and Cleo tried to leave. Ka-chan managed to calm her down."

A few seconds later, Izuku stood, and turned towards Cleo. He walked over, handed her the phone, and then sat down on some nearby chairs.

She brought the phone to her ear.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Cleo, I wanted to let you know that I looked into your mother. When I went to her house, I found it in flames. They're still trying to put out the fire, but they're pretty sure that no one is inside and it was intentional. I also asked a patrol car to check on your sister, and she wasn't home. Did you have any contact with either of them before calling me?" Aizawa asked, and Cleo's face paled.

The blood rushed from her face, remembering the call.

She tipped them off.

They burned the evidence and ran.

"Cleo?" He spoke after a moment.

"... I…" Her throat felt dry.

"Did you call your mother or sister before talking to me?" He asked.

"Yes."

"What exactly did you say?" Aizawa asked.

"I asked her about her scars. I wanted to know if he was right about her before telling you." Cleo said, her voice cracking. She leaned forward, her face nearly touching her calves, and one of her arms was awkwardly to cover some of her face.

"It's okay, Cleo. We don't know anything right now, so don't jump to any conclusion just yet. It's possible that there's a reasonable explanation for everything. You just need to stay calm for me."

Cleo took some deep breaths.

"Do you know where your mother and sister may have gone?"

17.

Aizawa felt terrible as he listened to Cleo's voice break.

Detective Jiko and All Might stood nearby, patiently waiting for Aizawa to finish the conversation and relay the information.

Not far away, a house burned with feral feverishness, sending flames high into the air and the firemen and women pulling back to avoid getting burned.

Jiko had been watching the Slither Gang for a while, but he knew some of the details going into the Bacchus family and their underground dealings. Apparently, the investigation had been going for some time.

Aizawa was pretty sure that Cleo knew some things, but not all of it. As soon as they got her out of there, they'd put her under protective custody and get a statement from her. The school would do their best to represent her and keep her safe.

"I-I don't don't know… I don't know…." Cleo said in an uncertain voice.

"Are there any places that your mother liked to visit? A country house, beach house, maybe a favorite hotel,"

"The Sakura hotel by the waterpark. She took me there last night. My sister had a team that she worked closely with at Cerberus and she was friendly with Tominohara." Cleo said.

He would ask her about the hotel meeting later. She sounded like she was close to crying.

"We'll start there. If you think of anything else, you can text it to this number or call. Is Bakugou with you, by chance? Can you pass the phone to him?" Aizawa asked.

He heard shifting in the background, followed by a grunt.

"I know that you and Cleo have been getting close recently. Stay close to her and make sure she doesn't do anything reckless." Aizawa instructed.

Bakugou grunted again, presumably understanding his instructions.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** I feel so uncomfortable adding this information, but I feel like people need to know about it. I usually try to keep these stories strictly about the fanfic/story it's based on, but I want to get information out there about it, and since most of my readers are most likely female... well, I felt like this would be useful to all of you.

First off, sorry for the delay. Life's been stressful. ^^" Buuuuut, speaking of stressful, I learned something other night that actively freaked me out, and I want people to know about it so that something can be done about it, or at the very least, people are made aware. It's completely unrelated to the chapter, so you can skip it, but I don't recommend it.

****WARNING, gross info**** If you live in the US, it's perfectly legal in 45 states for hospital staff to let medical students perform nonconsensual pelvic exams on women who are under anesthesia. It's not required for them to ask permission nor even inform them of it, before or afterwards. Multiple people without medical licenses, without consent, are instructed to insert their fingers into the person's vagina, as a "teaching tool" for the students, at no benefit to the person unconscious. It's not even after they have gynecological surgery; women having unrelated surgery, like stomach surgery, are violated by students they were not told about. Teaching schools across the country do this as a routine practice for their medical students. Only a few states have this practice be illegal, so I recommend that you see if you're in one of those states. If someone is under anesthesia, or unconscious, they can have their most intimate body parts violated, and never even know it. Hospitals across the country are effectively letting their patients be raped by medical students, and it's perfectly legal.** **WARNING OVER, gross part done****

If you want more info, PM me and I can send you links and articles, or just summarize a lot of the information for you. I find it absolutely terrifying that this is a thing- I only learned about it because New York banned the practice, and I wondered why they would need to ban something like that. Other big name organizations have revoked the practice, too, but that doesn't stop it from happening. And it's not just a rare instance- it's a common occurrence, a common practice, which is why it freaks me out so much. It's absolutely disgusting and terrifying.

Sorry for the disturbing info at the beginning of the chapter. I know, hearing information like that can be extremely disheartening, especially with all of the anti-women laws in general being introduced in some states (the anti-abortion laws). Most people have surgery at some point in their life, though, so this isn't something that can be ignored. People need to be aware, when they go in for surgery, and get as much information as possible. Make sure that EVERY staff member knows exactly what your wishes are and read the fine print.

I'll also be putting the above information in the next few chapters at the top, in case anyone misses it. Again, sorry it's gross.

Thank you to everyone to reviews, follows, and favorites this story, and has kept up with it after all this time! I appreciate all of you. Stay safe. 3 I'll be updating about three or four chapters on here, since I'm behind on updates.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_Small Spaces_

They'd been in there for five hours.

Cleo wasn't the only one feeling claustrophobic.

Shouto had his ice ready by the door, ready to stop anyone from attempting an escape.

Bakugou all but begged people to try and run. He loved the excuse of tackling them to the ground and yelling at them.

The creatures outside were changing, evolving into something else. Now, instead of foaming and being land based, they could fly and were showing signs of intelligence.

They were running out of games to play.

Everyone kept glancing at the door.

Izuku, Tenya, and Ochaco were doing good at staying upbeat with the games. The others struggled to varying degrees, and a smell was starting to form. They didn't have a shower, but they did have deodorant, which only did so much.

The group playing games, which had dwindled slightly, were playing some kind of frog game. All of them sat in a circle, singing a song and passing around a rock. When the song ended, whoever had the rock, lost.

While they were playing, a sudden knock came from the cell door.

Everyone jumped from the sudden sound.

They stopped, looking up at the door, and waited.

"I thought that room was empty?" Cleo asked as she stood, and was the first to stride over and peer inside the small glass window.

There was a dark figure on the ground, looking like they had collapsed.

A chill went down her spine.

All of the cell doors were open in there.

"They look injured." Ochaco said, and reached for the door, but Cleo pushed her back.

"Shouto, ice this door." Cleo ordered, and he quickly obeyed.

"Why?" Ochaco asked.

"He could be a trap from the Demon King. Something isn't right about them." Cleo said, and looked at the person again.

They had moved.

Cleo jumped back, startled, and stepped aside for Tenya and Izuku to look inside.

"I agree. If they were in a cell, they were there for a reason." Tenya said with a nod.

"But shouldn't we try to help anyway?" Ochaco asked.

"Not until we know their quirk. We also don't know if they're alone. How did they knock on the door from the middle of the room?" Cleo asked.

Another loud knock came from the door, causing them all to jump.

Cleo took her jacket off, put it over the window, and asked Hanta to tape it up.

"Why are you covering the window? Now we won't be able to see what's going on in there." Eijiro asked.

"If they have an eye based quirk like Aizawa, then we're already screwed. More likely is that they're trying to lure us in for a trap. One person is by the door, waiting to ambush, while the other plays helpless on the floor. Once they have one of us, they can use them as a hostage for supplies." Cleo reasoned.

When the knock came again, she stayed still, staring at the door, while the others jumped.

"Kyoka, use your jack to hear for how many people are in that room." Izuku instructed.

Kyoka looked up, seeming startled, but then nodded. Everyone was quiet as she listened to the other room.

Then, there was an unholy wail, crying from the room and filling the air with unease and horror.

Their body smashed into the door, over and over again, screaming and trying to escape.

Shouto added more ice.

Everyone stood, ready to defend themselves.

The creature kept yelling and screaming.

Cleo looked over, about to tell Izuku to contact their teacher, but realized he was already doing so. He was sending a text.

Looking around, she saw that most of the class had the same terrified look in their eye.

Sue was holding her hands over her ears and crying.

"All close range fighters in front, medium range in the middle, long range in the back! If it gets through, Fumikage, Mezo and I will push it back into the room, and Shouto will block it off again with his ice." Cleo instructed, getting everyone moving.

They needed something to focus on.

"Katsuki, don't use your quirk at all costs. If you blow this place up, we'll be dead. I want you to watch the door. If anyone gets frightened and tries to run, tackle them. Shouto needs his attention up here and if that route opens up, we're going to have a lot more people knocking." Cleo instructed.

Katsuki and the others nodded in agreement.

If Katsuki panicked and over used his quirk, they would be screwed.

"Everyone else, stay out of the way. We don't have a lot of space and too many people using their quirks will mean more people getting hurt." Cleo added.

As everyone moved, she kept a wary eye on the door.

They were still screaming.

The ice started to crack.

They suddenly heard more screaming from above and near the other door.

"Shouto, freeze the guy in this room, he might be attracting the others." Cleo ordered.

Shouto quietly nodded, and suddenly, the screaming from the other room stopped.

The screaming above kept going for several minutes, but she motioned for everyone to stay quiet.

Slowly, the sounds started to fade, with the sources walking away.

They heard movement on the other side of the door, and then it stopped.

"They're breaking through the ice." Shouto said.

"Just how strong is that guy?" Hanta asked.

"I heard wings flapping during the chaos. They sounded like the other creatures outside." Kyoka told them.

"Has Aizawa replied?" Cleo asked, turning to Izuku.

"He said to not let it in and keep as much distance as we can." Izuku said.

"We need a way to trap it. Maybe we can get it back in one of the cells." Cleo reasoned.

"The cells won't lock during an emergency, and that requires getting close to them. We risk getting infected." Tenya reminded her.

1.

As Aizawa entered the hotel with All Might and several armed policemen, his phone rang.

They paused by the front counter, where an attendant was, and Detective Jiko addressed them. He was getting information about their regular guest, Hoshi Bacchus, who was reportedly spotted here just ten minutes ago.

The lobby was a mix of red and yellow, with large furniture and two startled guests. They were civilians, a man and woman, with blond hair and blue eyes. They looked American.

Aizawa paused near the entrance, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

"The thing in the cells started screaming and attracted more of them. Todoroki froze them, and the others left, but the creature keeps breaking free. The cells won't lock so we can't trap it in one. We can't kill it because they're human. If we get close to fight it, we risk getting bitten. What do we do?" Cleo asked. By the sound of it, she had taken leadership, which was good. She was much better at handling intense situations than the others.

"Are you only dealing with one?" Aizawa asked.

"There might be a second one or this person had a quirk that let them throw sounds. While he was on the ground, someone was knocking. Kyoka hasn't heard the second one moving or breathing, though." Cleo explained.

Aizawa pondered the dilemma, and looked around.

Outside, they were setting up a perimeter. Inside, the police officers were moving to the stairs.

"Once bitten, they're not able to use their quirks, so there's probably a second one in there. No matter what, do not let yourselves be bitten." Aizawa spoke as he made his way to the stairs, following his group.

"Can you give me any helpful information, sensei?" Cleo asked.

"They're getting smarter. They've been learning to act helpless in order to lure in their prey and bite them. Don't take any unnecessary risks and be careful." Aizawa instructed, walking up the stairs with the others.

He wanted to ask if she had any other information about her mother, but she was clearly too busy.

"Alright. We'll do our best." Cleo replied, and hung up.

He wished that he could give better information to help them.

"Apparently Hoshi comes here often with young women." All Might said in a low voice. His hands were balled up into fists, and there was anger in his eyes. "I should have seen it. Last week I knew it wasn't like her, but I should have looked into it."

"What happened last week?" Aizawa asked, pushing back his own feelings. He could be angry later, when he had all of the information.

"Her mom convinced me to do some training with Cleo one-on-one. She showed up wearing a different costume than usual, much more showy than usual, and she looked uncomfortable. She canceled the training session that day- I should have known better." All Might explained.

"There were a lot of signs. Right now, we need to focus on getting more information." Aizawa told him.

_Maybe the attack during the license exam wasn't the Demon King after all._

They came up to the fourth floor, and stepped out just as Hoshi Bacchus was stepping out of a room. She was wearing a trench coat and carrying a small cooler. Kagome was next to her, and nearby, was a person dressed completely in black. Even their face was shrouded in darkness.

"Stop right there!" Detective Jiko yelled, and suddenly, Hoshi and Kagome vanished.

The black figure stood still.

Aizawa kept his eyes on them.

"Put your hands up!" Jiko yelled.

"No thanks." They replied, and they heard a strange sound behind them.

Aizawa turned, finding a singular bat flying towards them.

He turned back to the other figure and cursed, watching as the last few bats disappeared out a window.

_That was the one that attacked Cleo._

Detective Jiko and the others ran down the hallway, to the window.

All Might and Aizawa went over to the open door, and peered inside.

"Apparently they rent this room almost every night." All Might said in a low voice.

There was blood on a disheveled bed.

A broken lamp on the ground.

There had been a fight.

Aizawa slowly crept inside, wary of any traps. He followed a blood trail that led to the bathroom.

When they saw the body in the bathtub, All Might gasped and stepped back.

_What have you gotten yourself into, Cleo?_

He walked over and knelt down, next to the body of the young woman. She couldn't be much older than fifteen, with dyed blue hair and smeared make up.

There were a few lingering pieces of ice in the bloody tub water.

"It looks like they harvested her organs. That's probably what Hoshi was carrying on her way out." Aizawa told him.

"This is terrible. She looks so young." All Might said softly.

Aizawa nodded in agreement.

2.

Cleo hung up and gave it to Izuku.

"We're on our own." Cleo said.

"What do you mean, we're on our own?" Mina asked.

"Don't worry Mina, we'll figure something out." Cleo assured with a calm voice and smile, which seemed to calm Mina down slightly. "Shouto's ice will hold up for the short term, and apparently, they can't use quirks, which means that we can take my jacket off of the window. Mezo, while we think of a plan, can you watch the room?"

He seemed the calmest out of all of them. He nodded in understanding, and went over to stand by the door, removing her jacket and handing it to her.

"What if only one of them is bitten, and the other is using their quirk to hide?" Izuku asked.

"In that case, they might just be trying to get food from us." Tenya added.

"Which they might be willing to kill to get." Cleo added.

"There seems to be smoke in there." Mezo said.

Cleo quickly went over to look inside.

"It's not rising, which means that it's not smoke. Izuku's right, the second person is probably a quirk user hiding. They can probably turn into that black mist to avoid getting bitten." Cleo said, and watched as the ice encasing the creature started to crack again.

"Shouto, how long can you keep them in ice like this?" Izuku asked.

"A few hours." Shouto answered.

That would be a strain on him, though. Constantly using his quirk.

They had no idea when they'd be able to get out.

Cleo looked at her wings, at the scales.

If not for the mist, she could go into her second quirk form, which would potentially shield her from bites.

The Demon King was notorious for having durable skin.

"Momo, could you make a mask?" Cleo asked.

"You're not think about going in there?" Tenya asked.

"... there's part of my quirk that I've kept hidden. It'll protect me from getting bitten." Cleo said uneasily, and showed him the scaly part of her wing. "My skin can turn into this. I hate to do it because it looks so ugly."

"Even if you get in there, there's the quirk user to worry about." Izuku said.

"I'll bring a bag of food and water, and hope that that's all they want. Momo can make some kind of restraint apparatus to keep the creature from screaming and biting." Cleo spoke, and then, felt, someone touching one of her wings.

She looked over to see Bakugou biting and gnawing on the scaley part of her wing, and the people around them were screaming and panicking, thinking that he'd been infected.

Hanta covered him in tape and Eijiro punched him in the face, screaming about zombies.

"I WAS TESTING HOW STRONG HER SCALES WERE, YOU MORONS!" Bakugou screamed at them, starting an argument.

In the meantime, Cleo activated her quirk, but didn't hold back.

… except, it stopped.

She blinked in surprise, and tried again.

When the shifting part started, she felt like it was being stopped in her back, as if there was a stick in there. She was so used to her bones shifting to allow her wings in there, she never noticed.

"Ochaco, it feels like there's something in my back. Can you look at it? It's just above where my wings come out." Cleo requested, getting her attention.

Ochaco nodded, and Cleo turned while pulling her hair out of the way.

Ochaco pulled at the fabric, undoing part of the velcro, and pressed her fingertips against her spine.

"I little higher, to the right- there." Cleo said.

"There's something there." Ochaco said, and leaned in to get a closer look.

"Did the Demon King do something to you while you were asleep?" Izuku asked.

"There's skin over it and some kind of scar. Have you ever had surgery, Cleo?" Ochaco asked.

"No. It seems to be suppressing the second half of my quirk, though." Cleo said.

"That sounds like a Mijumi suppressor." Mezo said, looking away from the door. He kept a different eye on the window, so he could address them and watch the door at the same time.

"A what?" Cleo asked.

"They're implants to keep dangerous transformation quirks from going into effect. For example, I have a few to keep myself from accidentally replicating extra organs by accident." Mezo explained.

It took a few seconds for everything to click into place.

"When was the last time you used the second half of your quirk?" Izuku asked.

That's why it hurt when she started to use her quirk.

Her mother guilted her into not even trying to use her quirk, when it wasn't even possible.

She didn't even have to lie to her about that.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Cleo shouted, and yelled in frustration. "THIS ENTIRE FUCKING TIME!"

"How did you not notice a quirk suppressor?" Mezo asked her.

"AAAAAAAGH!" Cleo yelled out in frustration.

3.

As the police roped off the area and started collecting data, Aizawa and All Might went to the hallway and called their students to check in their status.

When they answered, there was a lot of yelling in the background.

"Hopefully Bakugou hasn't killed young Midoria yet." All Might joked.

Then, the yelling calmed down.

"S-sorry sensei. What do you need?" Izuku stuttered.

"What's going on?" Aizawa asked.

"We found out that Cleo had a quirk suppressor implanted in her back. She started yelling and tried to run off, so now half the class is sitting on her and Hanta used almost all his tape to bind her wings." Izuku explained, and Aizawa frowned.

"Poor Cleo." All Might said in a low voice.

"How is the situation with the inmate going?" Aizawa asked.

"Shouto is keeping him on ice for now. We're going to wait until Cleo has calmed down before deciding anything." Izuku replied.

"Midoria, bring the phone to Cleo's ear. We need to talk to her." All Might instructed.

The two teachers waited patiently while there was movement in the background. After a few seconds, there was a muffled grunting sound.

"Cleo, this is All Might. I know that you're upset, and you've been through so much, but you need to calm down and work with us. I have no doubt that you're going to be an amazing hero one day, and one of the things heroes have to do is learn how to set their feelings to the side. We went to the hotel you told us about, but we were too late." All Might spoke.

"There was a young woman, not much older than you, dead in one of the hotel rooms. There could be other people in her situation, and what you tell us could help us find a cure for the disease keeping you trapped. The more you tell us, the more people that can be saved." Aizawa added.

There was a pause, and then, there was shifting in the background.

"My mom was good friends with Katsuki's mom, so she might know something. My grandparents might know something. This is probably nothing, but when I was little, I had nightmares about monsters in the basement. I once dreamed that I was dragged down there and someone performed surgery on my wings. If it wasn't a dream, then that basement is a lot bigger than it looks." Cleo said in a tired voice.

"Do you know what your mother's quirk is?" Aizawa asked.

"She and my sister can turn invisible. Anything they touch will also turn invisible." Cleo said, and the heroes exchanged a look.

They'd assumed that Hoshi and Kagome had teleported somehow.

"Who was the girl that died?" Cleo asked.

"Don't worry yourself with that, young Cleo. Just stay calm and safe with the others. You need to set an example for them. If any of you try to leave, that puts all of you in danger." All Might advised.

"When I was little, I lost control of my quirk. My mom said that I hurt her badly, so I never used my full quirk after that. She convinced me to not tell anyone about my quirk, and to become a hero to make up for hurting her. I didn't tell anyone about it or use it because I was afraid that I would accidentally kill them. She probably put the quirk suppressor in my back shortly after that, and I never noticed because I was a fucking moron." Cleo explained.

"You're not a moron, Cleo. Hiding your quirk is a serious offense, and you will face punishment, but you'll be shown leniency given your circumstances. We'll do our best to protect you." All Might said.

"Did you look into Tominohara?" Cleo asked.

"We have people going to his work building to search for Kagome. Is there a reason that we should look into him further?" Aizawa asked.

There was a pause.

Aizawa took a calming breath.

"We'll send someone to his house. All Might and I will question him. Do you think he was involved in your mother's crimes?" Aizawa asked.

"Probably." She said in a low voice.

"Is he involved with why you were here last night?" Aizawa asked, and All Might looked up at him in alarm.

Cleo didn't respond.

"You need to tell me a yes or no, Cleo. I know it's hard, but-"

"Yes." She said in a low voice.

"Good job, Cleo. If you think of anything else, have Izuku call. In the meantime, just try to stay calm. You're going to be okay, and we're going to figure this out." Aizawa said.

"Alright."

Aizawa wished he could think of anything else to say.

"Hello?" Izuku spoke.

"Cleo has given us a new lead to go on. Keep an eye on her and make sure everyone stays calm. Everything is going to be okay." All Might told him.

"Yes, All Might!" Izuku exclaimed.

Aizawa hung up, and looked to All Might, who had a dangerous look in his eye.

4.

Another hour went by. Almost seven hours had passed since they were trapped there.

Cleo glared at the floor, unable to move, with Bakugou's fat ass on her. He'd taken a little too much joy in sitting on her for the last hour. Her hands were bound behind her, her legs and wings similarly bound, a blanket on her legs (apparently her skirt had ridden up in the struggle), and then Bakugou on her back. Whenever she looked up at him, he was smirking triumphantly.

The others had decided to distract themselves by studying. They were quizzing each other, going over material, and practicing first aid response scenarios.

Eijirou could harden his skin to protect himself from being bitten, but he was scared to go in on his own. Momo was in the process of creating armor for Izuku, to protect him, but the process was slow going. Once the pieces were made, Izuku and Eijirou would go in, restrain the creature, make the food offering, and then come back out.

"I'm not going to run. You don't have to sit on me anymore." Cleo told Bakugou after a while.

"Nah. You're pretty comfy." Bakugou said, and swiveled on her lower back for emphasis. "Besides, this is great payback."

"Well, since you're not going anywhere, can you look at the quirk suppressor and see if there's a way to get it out?" Cleo requested.

"But then if I do that, you'll be stronger." Bakugou pointed out.

"Afraid I'll kick your ass?" Cleo asked.

"Of course not." He scoffed.

"With my full quirk, I'll be able to go in instead of Izuku or Eijirou. It'll be more efficient if I go in alone, and you know that I'm stronger than both of them." Cleo reasoned.

Bakugou seemed to contemplate her for a moment, seeming much too comfortable sitting on her.

As much as she enjoyed being around him, the position wasn't comfortable.

"Where's the suppressor, thing, again?" Bakugou asked.

"It's above my wings and to the right." Cleo answered, and tensed when Bakugou's hand slipped under the cloth below her wings, instead of above. "That's not-"

"Is this it?" He asked as he came across the back of her bra.

Cleo's eyes widened and she hid her face in the floor, her cheeks burning.

"Can you use your quirk now?" He asked, and she further tensed, her eyes going wide when she felt the sides of her bra loosen.

Her heart pounded against her chest.

She hoped no one was looking her way.

She wondered how incredibly stupid someone like Katsuki could function on a day to day basis.

"... Cleo?" Bakugou spoke after a few seconds.

"You are a moron. That was not it." Cleo whispered.

"Huh?" Bakugou spoke, and leaned down closer. "What did you say?"

"You are either the biggest moron I have ever met or the biggest pervert." Cleo whispered.

"Pervert? I'm just keeping you from running." Bakugou said.

"You unhooked my bra, you idiot." Cleo whispered.

His muscles tensed, and for a moment, he didn't say anything.

Then, he leaned back, and she glanced back to see that his arms were crossed.

"How was I supposed to know?" Bakugou asked.

"The quirk suppressor is under my skin, why the fuck did you think it was a piece of clothing? Of fabric?" Cleo asked in a harsh whisper, and watched as a slight blush spread along his cheeks.

He was embarrassed, at least.

"I told you to check above my wings, not under them. Can you try again but this time not going after my bra?" Cleo asked with a pointed glare.

Bakugou grumbled as he leaned forward, nonetheless trying again, this time his hands going the right direction under her shirt. When they found the object, his warm fingers felt around it, and tentatively pushed it a little.

She tensed slightly, forgetting how rough he could be. Having a stick move inside her body was a strange sensation.

"How could you not know this was here?" Bakugou asked.

"My bones are already flexible because of my wings, I just never noticed. How wide is it?" Cleo asked.

"About an inch wide." Bakugou said, and continued caressing it.

He'd never been so gentle, and his calloused fingertips felt nice on her sore flesh.

She relaxed against him, surprisingly enjoying his touch, and closed her eyes. She didn't realize just how tense her muscles had been until then.

The tape didn't help.

"Bakugou, what are you doing to Cleo!?" Momo suddenly shrieked, causing them to look up at their startled classmates.

"That is not appropriate!" Tenya yelled, and ran over to grab Bakugou.

"Let go of me!" Katsuki yelled, and struggled.

"Pervert!" Mina yelled at him.

Cleo rolled her eyes as the fighting ensued.

5.

Bakugou ended up chained and gagged in the corner.

Cleo was eventually unbound, and managed to convince them to let her go in instead of the others.

She put on the guards that Momo made, and just before going in, Eijiro changed his mind. He wanted to back her up.

He had his quirk ready to go, and gas mask on.

Shouto created a wall around them as they entered, so that the gas quirk user couldn't slip past them.

Cleo dropped off the bag of food by one of the cells.

"I'm not sure how much you heard, but we brought over some food and water. We're going to restrain that thing so that it won't attract any others with its screaming." Cleo informed them, and watched as the bag was pulled further into one of the cells. "When help comes for us, we'll make sure that you get help, too."

Then, Cleo turned her attention to the winged creature not far away.

They were wearing the remains of an officer's uniform.

Cleo gestured for Eijiro to go behind the creature. He was carrying the equipment to bind it.

The creature's eyes watched them.

Waiting for the opportune moment to attack.

Once Eijiro was in position, Cleo made the sign for Shouto to unfreeze the creature's right arm.

Cleo grabbed hold of the creature's wrist, and braced herself against the ice, trying to wrestle it into the metal brace.

The creature was strong, and as she pushed against the muscled limb, the hand turned into talons.

_Fuck it._

Cleo stabbed the upper arm, causing it to spasm in pain and let her get it strapped into the metal harness.

One down, four to go.

6.

Once the creature was bound, shackled, and put in one of the cells, the chains hooked to the walls, Eijiro and Cleo made their way back to the original room.

The inmate didn't cause them any trouble, and once the door was closed and iced again, they saw him appear in the cell with food and water, and start to eat.

They weren't wearing any clothes. Their quirk may not have accounted for them.

As Cleo was taking the guards off, sterilizing them along the way (Eijiro was cleaning off the blood that got on him, too), the lights went out.

Everyone froze, not saying a word.

"... what happened to the lights?" Kyoka asked.

"I'll make some, don't worry." Momo told them, and not long after, her face was illuminated by a flashlight.

"Not to sound annoying, but can you make a lamp for us? We need to clean off the blood." Cleo said.

"Yeah, no problem." Momo said.

As she started making lights, their classmates started to feel more at ease.

Cleo finished getting the blood off of the gear and helped Eijiro make sure he got all the blood spatters off of him. They made sure that all the cleaning gear was tucked away, so no one could accidentally get infected. They weren't sure if the disease could spread from blood to blood contact, or only from flesh wounds, but they wanted to be careful.

"Let's play Truth or Dare!" Mina said excitedly.

"Cleo, will you play this time?" Tenya requested, and there was a slight strain in his voice.

"Sure, I'd love to. Bakugou, Todoroki, do you want to play?" Cleo asked, turning to them.

Shouto shook his head.

Bakugou seemed to be asleep.

She shrugged.

Mina excitedly grabbed Cleo and sat her between her and Tenya. Their entire class, excluding Shouto and Katsuki, decided to play.

"Cleo! Truth or dare?" Mina asked giddily.

"Dare." Cleo said, and Mina pouted slightly.

They were going to ask her about the dumb pants.

"I dare you to…" Mina started to say as she looked around.

"Hold on, we should set some ground rules. The person has the option to decline and they can't be dared to go outside or put themselves in danger." Tenya said quickly.

Everyone nodded, agreeing to the terms.

"I dare you… to stand on one leg while rubbing your tummy and patting your head!" Mina exclaimed excitedly.

Cleo shrugged and stood, doing as requested, and Mina clapped excitedly.

"Kouji, truth or dare?" Cleo asked once she sat down. (Author note: forgot he is mute. Sorry about that.)

"Uh… I guess truth?" He answered awkwardly, with his eyes going downcast. Kouji always seemed so timid and quiet.

"What is your favorite food?" Cleo asked with a smile.

"Hmmm…" He said, and quietly pondered the question with a very serious expression. "One of my favorites is a seafood ramen dish that my mom makes."

"Mmm, that sounds good. Would you ever consider making that at the dorms sometime? I'd love to try it." Cleo asked him.

"I-I-I, uh… maybe…" He said awkwardly.

"That was two questions! You're only allowed one per turn!" Tenya scolded.

"Gomen." Cleo apologized with a bashful smile.

"It is your turn, Kouji!" Tenya yelled as he pointed at him.

"Tenya, chill out and sit down." Cleo said calmly as she pulled at his jacket, causing him to fall down.

"Rikidou… truth or dare…" Kouji said in a quiet voice.

"Truth." Rikidou replied.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Mezou, what's your deepest, darkest secret?" Rikidou asked.

"I enjoy Justin Beiber music." Mezou admitted.

"EEEH!?" Half the class screeched, and proceeded to tease him for it. Some of the girls laughed and asked him which songs were his favorite, and they briefly chatted about random facts involving the singer.

For a while longer, the game continued. Most of the dares involved doing silly dance moves, and the questions were random. Eventually, Cleo was asked again.

"Truth." Cleo answered.

The group gasped, and subtly leaned in, awaiting her answer.

"Who let you borrow their pants?" Sue asked.

"I don't know! I got them at the lost and found." Cleo replied.

"I don't believe you!" Mineta shouted while pointing at her.

She grinned and chuckled.

"Yuuga! Truth or dare!" Cleo asked.

"Dare!" Yuga said as he jumped to his feet with a sparkle in his eye.

"Do you favorite pose!"

He did his favorite pose, and everyone laughed and cheered for him.

"Tenya! Truth or dare!" Yuga spoke as he turned his hip and pointed at Tenya with a flamboyant pose.

"Truth!" Tenya yelled.

"Who do you have a crush on?" Yuga asked.

At once, the entire group turned to Tenya, and watched as his face turned completely red.

"Remember, you can say no." Cleo reminded him.

"He likes someone! His face wouldn't be red otherwise!" Mina exclaimed.

"I like Cleo!" Tenya blurted.

Cleo blinked in surprise, staring at him for a moment, and felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

… she'd always thought that he was just being nice….

Cleo suddenly heard scratching, and turned to the ice door.

"Tenya and Cleo sitting in a tree, K-"

Cleo put a hand over Mina's mouth and indicated for everyone to be quiet.

"Is that… scratching?" Ochaco whispered.

They all went silent again, and Cleo very slowly and quietly went over to the iced over door, and listened again.

There was definitely scratching coming from outside.

She realized that there was a window in the door; light could be coming from their door, and acting as a glowing beacon.

"Something's trying to dig inside. Shouto, melt the ice far enough so that we can put something in front of the window. The light might be attracting it." Cleo whispered.

Shouto nodded, and they quickly moved to cover up the window, just like they had covered the other one. Once it was, Shouto covered it with ice again, and they turned off most of the lights.

They quietly listened outside.

The scratching stopped.

"... how about we get some sleep? We can take shifts keeping watch." Tenya suggested.

7.

Cleo and Katsuki were the first shift.

Everyone else tried to get some sleep.

They had a singular small lantern in the center of the room, which was dimmed, letting everyone see. Momo made blankets and pillows for everyone.

Katsuki and Cleo sat near the door, quiet, as everyone either slept or pretended to sleep.

In about four hours, they would be replaced by Tenya and Fumikage. For the reset of the night, they had set up a sign up sheet. At least two people would be awake at all hours.

Cleo had the phone.

Once everyone had settled, Cleo pulled out the small knife that Momo had made, and reached behind her. She'd had plenty of practice reaching behind her over the years to that area, so it wasn't a terrible reach.

Katsuki quietly watched her.

She took a deep breath, calming her nerves, and felt the foreign nub with her fingertips. It was close enough to the surface that she wouldn't have to dig very far. Just cut the skin and pull.

She took another deep breath, and cut.

She grit her teeth as the blade slid across her skin, and she leaned forward as she gripped the edge of the object, and pulled.

_1, 2, 3, 4, 5…._

As the object slid out, she wished that she'd had the forethought to get something to bite down on. All she had was her lip, which sent a metallic taste into her mouth and dripping down her chin.

The object was only a few inches long, and once it was out, she set it on the towel next to her.

She activated the second part of her quirk, for the first time in almost ten years, and felt the scales take over her skin and her internal body shift.

The change felt nice.

She looked down at her hand, and saw that it had been replaced by claws.

She shifted back to her normal form, and let out a sigh of relief.

Katsuki was still watching her.

"Would you be willing to apply a bandage so that I don't bleed out?" Cleo requested.

She held out the bandage to him, and then turned so that her back faced him. He pulled at her shirt, slightly, presumably to see the wound better. He grabbed the small towel next to her to soak up the blood.

Cleo distracted herself with the small object in front of her. She washed off her hand with a small sterilizing cloth, getting the blood off, and then picked up the small, bloody object with it.

It was black, with subtle grooves in it.

She winced as Bakugou shifted, cleaning around the wound with the sterilizing square, and she thought back to her nightmares about being dragged into the basement.

_Is there anything else inside me?_ She wondered darkly.

She winced again as he moved, and whispered an apology. She looked around at the group, finding that they were still sleeping or attempting it.

"Why isn't there more blood?" Katsuki whispered.

"Because my wings usually go there. There's not as much bloodflow in that part of my back." Cleo whispered back.

Once he was done, he grunted, and she turned to him again. He was wiping his hand off with a sanitizing wipe, and then set it down next to her, with some of the other bloody materials.

"Thank you." Cleo whispered.

"Whatever." Bakugou muttered, looking away, and shifted to rest his back against the wall again.

She leaned forward and pecked his cheek. Even though it was dark, she could see his cheeks go pink, and his eyes widened slightly.

Then, she gathered the contaminated items and went over to the contagion box on the side of the room. That's where and Eijiro and Cleo had put the bloody rags from earlier inside. The box was clearly marked and made from a strong metal, so that no one could accidentally open it.

One her way back, she grabbed a blanket and walked back over to Katsuki. She sat next to him and brought the blanket over both of their bodies.

Shouto shifted in his spot, huffed out a sigh, and shifted again.

Some of their classmates were obviously awake, but none of them were facing their direction. Girls were on the right side of the room, boys on the left. Toru and Tenya made a big deal about that.

With the blanket covering them, she didn't have to worry about accidentally flashing someone in her skirt. She could sit comfortably, watch the exits, and enjoy Katsuki's presence. He was nice when he was quiet, and not screaming insults at people.

They sat there for a while, in complete silence. Cleo focused on a few mental meditation exercises, and was content to that, when suddenly she felt a hand on her thigh.

She bit down on her cheek, refraining from making a sound, and tried to calm her racing heart.

No one was looking their way.

With the blanket over them, no one would see.

She preoccupied herself by looking at the doorway, and tried to ignore the calloused hand slowly inching along her bare skin.

His breathing was getting more erratic.

When she turned back to him, to suggest they not do this here, she was struck by the intense look on his face.

A flurry of butterflies soared through her stomach, heat rushed south, and she barely kept herself from opening her legs further.

That look was smothering. Those red eyes, fixated on her, as if she were the single most interesting thing on the planet.

She reached for his hand, sliding their palms together, and interlaced their hands.

"Not here." Cleo whispered.

He let out a ragged sigh, moving their interlocked hands to her knee, and his intense gaze shifted to the other people in the room.

Her mind briefly drifted to Tominohara, the man that wanted her to "save herself for him" and be "unsoiled".

She moved his hand across her thigh again, and his eyes snapped to hers, silently questioning her.

A sound came from upstairs, and they both shifted to look at the door.

A few seconds later, a howl came from the floor above them, startling the class from their attempted slumber.

Everyone looked to the door.

In the neighboring buildings, other howls started to bellow.

"So much for getting sleep." Hanta said sarcastically.

8.

"THAT'S NOT THE COOLER!" Momo screamed, waking Cleo up.

She snapped awake, cringing at the pain that followed, and looked for the source of the sound.

Momo was facing Mineta, her eyes wide in alarm, and Mineta was frozen in place next to the blood box, with his hand on the lid.

"STEP AWAY FROM THAT! NOW!" Momo screamed at him.

"What did I do?"

"STEP. AWAY. NOW!" Momo yelled at him.

"Didn't you see the biohazard stickers on there, Mineta?" Kyoka asked him.

Mineta slowly inched away, his eyes wide in alarm.

"Maybe we should move it somewhere less accessible?" Izuka suggested.

"I'm going to put it in a cage, put that cage in a box, put that box in another cage, so that no one else tries to get into it." Momo said irritably, and started to create something new. Occasionally she shot a glare at Mineta, who still looked like a startled deer in headlights.

Cleo looked around, realizing that she was laying on the ground, and she looked around for Katsuki. He seemed to be sleeping over on the boys side of the room, with his own blanket. His mouth was gaping and drool pooling on his pillow, seeming undisturbed.

Her neck creaked as she moved, and she lay back down, not having a pillow.

When she fell asleep, Katsuki had been her pillow.

_Damn you, Katsuki._

She frowned as she laid back down, going back to sleep.

9.

A loud sound woke her up, followed by screams.

She sat up, cringing at the pain that followed, and looked around, finding the source of the explosion quickly.

There was a smoking, giant, box in the corner of the room, not far from where she'd fallen asleep. She stared at it, trying to figure out what the hell it was, and why it was smoking.

"Why the hell did the bio hazard box explode?!" Momo screeched.

As their classmates bickered back and forth, trying to figure out what happened, Cleo went through the mental list of what was in there.

… the quirk repressor….

… _my mom just tried to kill me._

Cleo grunted, laying down again.

10.

Aizawa stood with the other teachers just outside the barrier, getting ready to go through with their plan.

They'd gotten the city specs so that they could create a concrete tunnel under the barrier and get to their students inside.

They were all exhausted. It was the middle of the night.

While they had worked to get their students out, the other heroes had been working with the CDC to get all the creatures into cages. They needed to get all of them into environments where they would be isolated, safe from harming themselves and others, and easily observable.

Just as Aizawa was about to call his students, his phone started to ring, so he quickly answered.

Izuku's panicked voice met his ear, and he couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying.

"Put Cleo on the phone. Midoria, I can't understand you, put Cleo on the phone." Aizawa instructed, and sighed as he listened to the panicked voices.

For now, he hoped that they were just overreacting to whatever happened.

They were so close to getting them out.

"Hello, yeah…?" Cleo spoke, sounding groggy. She must have been sleeping.

"What's going on?" Aizawa asked.

"We had a box to put all blood soaked in things, from when Eijiro and I took care of the creature in the other room, and needed to clean off the blood that got on him. The box had blood in it. The box exploded." Cleo explained.

"Exploded? Was there anything else in there?" Aizawa asked. So far as he knew, the virus wasn't combustible.

"I maybe took out the quirk repressor when everyone else was a sleep. That was in there, too. If that's what exploded then hopefully there's no other explosive things in me." Cleo explained groggily.

It was just past three in the morning. She and the others were probably exhausted.

"Well, we're about to get all of you out, so tell them the good news and to not worry about the box. We're going to be there soon. Make sure that no one is along the wall opposite of the cells, because that's where we're going to come in." Aizawa instructed.

"Kay. Cool. Ow. Fuck." Cleo grumbled. "I'll let everyone know. We'll clear this wall. I was the only one sleeping by it, so it'll be easy. Ow."

"Wait, did you say that you removed a quirk suppressor?" Aizawa suddenly asked, thinking over what she said.

"Yeah. It was pretty small, and the blood flow in my body is pretty thin there. I just cut and pulled it out. Katsuki bandaged it up." Cleo replied.

"Why did you do that?" Aizawa asked incredulously.

"I was pissed off and wanted it out." Cleo replied.

"That could have killed you. If you had bled out, there would have been no way to help you." Aizawa said, and All Might looked up at him. "Cleo pulled out a quirk suppressor that had been implanted in her back."

The teachers gave him a look of horror.

"It's fine. I'm fine. No complications, and apparently it might have had a bomb in it." Cleo told him.

"As soon as you're out, you're going into protective custody and going to the hospital." Aizawa told her.

"... makes sense."

She sounded so tired.

Aizawa rubbed his face tiredly, and let out a heavy sigh.

"We managed to get into the basement of your mother's house, and it wasn't good. You're going to be answering a lot of questions." Aizawa said.

"Will I be able to stay at UA?" Cleo asked.

He paused.

"We'll do what we can, Cleo. For now, just focus on getting everyone calmed down and away from the wall." Aizawa told her.

"Aight. Bye." She said, and hung up.

"Cleo…" Aizawa sighed, and put the phone away. He rubbed his face tiredly.

"Is she okay?" All Might asked.

"She's fine, hopefully." Aizawa replied.

"They know to get away from the wall?" Cementoss asked.

"Yep." Aizawa nodded, and noticed that he seemed ready to go. "Are you ready?"

He nodded.

"I've already told the people in charge that we're doing this." All Might added.

"Then let's get our students." Aizawa said.

Cementoss nodded, and started to use his quirk to tunnel into the ground. He used city schematics to create a path that avoided major pipes and structures.

After a few minutes, he stopped, and nodded.

Detective Jiko and a team was close by to take Cleo into custody. All Might would go with her.

"Let's go." Aizawa said, and ran with Cementoss into the square tunnel. Aizawa brought out his flashlight, illuminating the darkness, and kept going.

They swerved and turned with the tunnel, eager to get to the end, and could hear nothing but the sound of their feet pounding into the ground and their labored breathing.

Once they reached the end, Cementoss opened up the wall, and they were greeted by the excited faces of their students.

"Sensei!" They all cheered.

He gestured for them to come out, standing to the side, and started counting them as they came out, one by one.

Tenya and Cleo were the last to leave, while the others hurried to escape.

"You know about the inmate, yeah?" Cleo asked, and Aizawa nodded. "He's getting low on food. Since the creature in there is bound, they can't get food, either."

"We'll take care of them, let's get moving." Aizawa said, nodding to the exit. She nodded, and they all stepped out together. Cementoss closed the doorway behind them.

Aizawa glanced at her back, and could see the place she'd cut into. There was a blotch of blood just above her wings and to the right.

Once they were out of the tunnel, Cementoss closed the entrance.

Some of the students were doing a victory dance.

All Might approached Cleo, and hid that unease in his heart with a smile, as he always did.

Cleo gave a similar smile in turn.

Aizawa hoped that she would return to UA. They needed more smiling heroes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** I feel so uncomfortable adding this information, but I feel like people need to know about it. I usually try to keep these stories strictly about the fanfic/story it's based on, but I want to get information out there about it, and since most of my readers are most likely female... well, I felt like this would be useful to all of you.

First off, sorry for the delay. Life's been stressful. ^^" Buuuuut, speaking of stressful, I learned something other night that actively freaked me out, and I want people to know about it so that something can be done about it, or at the very least, people are made aware. It's completely unrelated to the chapter, so you can skip it, but I don't recommend it.

****WARNING, gross info**** If you live in the US, it's perfectly legal in 45 states for hospital staff to let medical students perform nonconsensual pelvic exams on women who are under anesthesia. It's not required for them to ask permission nor even inform them of it, before or afterwards. Multiple people without medical licenses, without consent, are instructed to insert their fingers into the person's vagina, as a "teaching tool" for the students, at no benefit to the person unconscious. It's not even after they have gynecological surgery; women having unrelated surgery, like stomach surgery, are violated by students they were not told about. Teaching schools across the country do this as a routine practice for their medical students. Only a few states have this practice be illegal, so I recommend that you see if you're in one of those states. If someone is under anesthesia, or unconscious, they can have their most intimate body parts violated, and never even know it. Hospitals across the country are effectively letting their patients be raped by medical students, and it's perfectly legal.** **WARNING OVER, gross part done****

If you want more info, PM me and I can send you links and articles, or just summarize a lot of the information for you. I find it absolutely terrifying that this is a thing- I only learned about it because New York banned the practice, and I wondered why they would need to ban something like that. Other big name organizations have revoked the practice, too, but that doesn't stop it from happening. And it's not just a rare instance- it's a common occurrence, a common practice, which is why it freaks me out so much. It's absolutely disgusting and terrifying.

Sorry for the disturbing info at the beginning of the chapter. I know, hearing information like that can be extremely disheartening, especially with all of the anti-women laws in general being introduced in some states (the anti-abortion laws). Most people have surgery at some point in their life, though, so this isn't something that can be ignored. People need to be aware, when they go in for surgery, and get as much information as possible. Make sure that EVERY staff member knows exactly what your wishes are and read the fine print.

I'll also be putting the above information in the next few chapters at the top, in case anyone misses it. Again, sorry it's gross.

Thank you to everyone to reviews, follows, and favorites this story, and has kept up with it after all this time! I appreciate all of you. Stay safe. 3 I'll be updating about three or four chapters on here, since I'm behind on updates.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_To Live Another Day_

Days had gone by since the virus outbreak, and the UA student's evacuation. Their class was all over the news again.

All Might and Cleo sat in a small break room together, waiting patiently.

They were in a police station two towns over, hidden from most of the staff in the back half of the station. No one, except for a few chosen people, knew they were there.

The break room was small and held the bare essentials. There was coffee, sugar, creamer, and then half a box of donuts on the counter. This room wasn't used very often, only here for when they had high profile people they wanted to keep hidden from the public, and a few discreet detectives.

An old light shined from the ceiling, illuminating the painfully white walls, near empty refrigerator, sink, and cabinets. There was a table in the center of the room, where the former hero and student sat.

A small plate and partially eaten maple bar sat in front of Cleo. Her morning tea was half gone.

She'd gotten very little sleep in the previous days, and had had to go into detail about very personal and awkward topics to complete strangers.

When Cleo wasn't addressing someone, or putting on a front, she looked tired and exhausted. A sullen look would fill her eyes, a sense of death and despair, and the creases in her face would harden slightly. To the passive observer she might seem calm, but to All Might, he knew otherwise.

He admired that show of strength and courage. Multiple times now, she'd shown the ability to stay calm and collected in an emergency situation, and had the strength to fight when was necessary. She was a great influence on her peers, had a good heart, and All Might wanted to see her become a pro hero someday.

From what he could tell, the detectives in charge agreed. She didn't know much about her mother's illegal human trafficking organization, but she knew enough small things that they added up.

Cleo, accidentally, was helping take down one of the biggest human trafficking rings in the country. Thanks to her, they were able to put out warrants for her mother and grandparent's arrest.

In exchange for all the information, All Might was pretty sure that they'd let her off with a warning regarding her quirk, and let her go back to UA. Her grades and performance at UA were good enough that most teachers wanted her to stay.

Nothing was decided yet, though. Nothing was set in stone. Cleo needed to keep corroborating and give them as much detail as she could in order to get the best deal.

As if sensing his stare, Cleo gave him a smile, and he returned the gesture.

For a moment, they simply smiled, and Cleo returned her attention to the donut and tea. That sullen expression returned to her face.

"What's the worst case scenario?" Cleo asked quietly.

"... wouldn't you rather focus on the positives?" All Might asked.

"It's better to be aware of the negatives and focus on the positive, rather than guess the negative and worry about things that may not even happen." Cleo rationalized.

"... well, the absolutely worst case scenario, legally speaking, is that you would be tried as a co-conspirator with your family for all the crimes they've committed." All Might said, and she slowly nodded. "I don't think that'll happen, though. You've been forthcoming about everything."

"My dad is the Demon King and my mother is a huge player in the human trafficking trade." Cleo said softly.

"Even so, you're a minor, and you've made a good impression at UA. We have a very positive public image and a good relationship with the criminal justice system." All Might explained.

"Are people going to know about my parents? About my relationship to them?" Cleo asked.

"Your relationship to your father will be kept secret, but your mother will be more difficult. I suspect that it'll be a few weeks until the news outlets catch wind. Because of the virus outbreak, it's possible that it'll go unnoticed in the media. There have been a lot of villain activity, so there's a possibility that you won't be dragged into the spotlight." All Might explained.

She slowly nodded, still looking at the green tea cup.

"... I'm sorry for not seeing the signs sooner." All Might suddenly said.

"What signs?" She asked tiredly.

"When you showed up to the training session in the new costume. That wasn't like you, and I should have asked questions. Forgive me." All Might apologized, thinking about that day again.

"You were polite and kind. You were fine."

That sullen look took hold again, and he feared what memory was surfacing for her.

"What do you think about Katsuki?" Cleo asked randomly.

"Katsuki?" All Might asked, and pondered the young man. He became sour at the recent memory of his fight with Midoria, and the meeting he'd had with him and his parents. "He's… a very strong fighter. Very capable."

"He's the one that loaned me the stupid pants. Everyone in the class have been obsessing over it." Cleo said.

"... pants…?" All Might asked, confused.

A genuine smile tugged at her lips for the first time.

"After our session, I felt gross for what my mom asked me to do, so I decided to wear the boys school uniform. The next morning Katsuki was in the common area, so I asked if I could borrow his pants until I got my own. Our classmates have been trying to figure out who loaned me their pants. They've been interrogating all the male students in our dorms and being obnoxious about it." Cleo explained, and All Might smiled.

_So Katsuki does have a kind side to him._

She laughed, suddenly.

"I tried to train the idiot how to take care of wounded people in an emergency situation. I told him that one of the things to keep in mind with startled people is to have a slow, calm voice, and to be respectful and polite, and to learn their name to earn their trust. The next day during class, we did the exercise, and instead of yelling threats at the wounded person, I overheard him whispering to Eijiro to tell him his name or else he'd kill him." Cleo explained and laughed, and All Might laughed as well, filling the dull space with laughter.

"That shows that he's trying, which is good. Katsuki is very slowly learning how things work. He's very strong and fast with fighting technique, but with things like that… well, they don't come as naturally." All Might said, trying to not speak ill of the young hero.

"He's an idiot. He's fun to fight, though. His face gets all scrunched up and annoyed when I overpower him." Cleo smiled, and there was a spark in her eye that was missing before.

All Might wouldn't have suspected that she'd like someone like Bakugou. Out of anyone in the class, he would think she'd be more interested in Midoria or Iida.

"When we were trapped in the room, I told people that my quirk made my skin pretty much resistant to anything. So Bakugou wanted to test this. He grabbed my wing and chomped down as hard as he could, and everyone freaked out and panicked because they thought he'd been turned into a zombie. At least I know my scales are Bakugou proof." Cleo commented as she raised her wing slightly.

"That sounds like invaluable information." All Might commented.

He enjoyed seeing such a genuine smile on her face.

"He wants to fight me in my new costume so badly. He'll probably want to fight me with my new quirk, too. With the suit I'll be able to use my quirk without people noticing." Cleo added.

"How much is your quirk like your father's?" All Might inquired.

"I can't spit fire or acid like him. I just get all scaley, my senses are improved, and I get stronger." Cleo explained, and he nodded thoughtfully. "I won't use that in public, though. When I'm in that form, I look too much like my dad. … it feels weird to say that outloud."

"You'll need to be more forthcoming with us teachers about your quirk." All Might reminded her.

"I know. Oh, I also have another set of wings. They're smaller than my main set, but they've still got the webbing." Cleo added, much more upbeat than earlier.

"A second set of wings?" All Might asked, and shifted to look behind her.

"They're folded up, like how I used to fold up my bigger wings." Cleo said, and then frowned.

"Do you plan on asking out young Bakugou?" All Might inquired, and Cleo's cheeks heated up in embarrassment.

"Wh-what do you mean?" She stuttered.

"I've never seen you smile as much as when you talk about young Bakugou." All Might explained.

"I mean, I don't like, like him. He's a good friend. I like spending time with him." Cleo explained hastily.

"Ah, I see." All Might nodded.

"Have you ever liked someone?" Cleo asked.

"In a romantic way? Well, I've had a few girlfriends over the years, but… they didn't pan out." All Might shrugged.

1.

Bakugou grumbled irritably in the commons.

After an agonizingly long day at class, and dealing with half the school pestering him and his class, he went back to the dorms to get away from them. He didn't quite feel like being alone, though.

His classmates were buzzing in conversation ranging in a variety of topics.

None of the conversations were particularly interesting.

The girls were talking about setting up study sessions. Iida was running around asking if people were available for certain times to train. One of the groups he found himself interested in a little too much.

Mineta, Denki, and Hanta were talking about how attractive women were, and who they were thinking of asking out in the class.

He kept thinking about how soft and warm Cleo's thigh was.

How much she let him touch.

He kept imagining what the rest of her felt like.

"Ochaco is cute." Hanta whispered as they openly stared at the women.

"She likes Midoria." Denki whispered back.

"They're not dating yet." Hanta pointed out.

"Are any of you free tomorrow after class? We've got-" Iida started to explain, but then was interrupted by Mineta.

"How far did you get with Cleo?"

Iida's face turned red, his eyes going wide in embarrassment, and body went rigid.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Iida exclaimed.

"You admitted that you liked her during Truth or Dare! How far have you gotten with her!?" Mineta demanded.

"I just remembered, I have something else I need to do!" Iida exclaimed and ran off.

Bakugou refrained from smirking, instead, giving his typical bored expression.

"How far have you gotten with a girl, Katsuki?" Denki asked, turning to the quiet pyromaniac.

"I've murdered them in a fight before." Katsuki replied, and watched his classmates fall to the floor or face palm.

"No, like, have you done one before?" Mineta asked.

Katsuki continued giving him a blank stare.

"Sex, Katsuki." Denki whispered with a heavy blush.

"Why would I care about sex? It doesn't help me fight." Katsuki replied.

"How can someone not be interested in sex!? Are you even a man!?" Mineta asked.

"Of course I'm a man! I'm more of a man than all of you combined!" Katsuki shouted.

"How can a man not want to sleep with women?! It doesn't make sense!" Mineta asked.

"Maybe he's gay." Denki said.

"Oooh, so that's why you obsess over Midoria so much." Hanta commented.

"I'll kill all of you!" Katsuki shouted as he attacked them.

2.

"Are you sure that you don't remember anything else?"

All Might sat silently next to Cleo, sadly watching the detective get more and more frustrated.

The detective was tired, his hair in disarray, and bags under his eyes. He'd been leading the investigation into the Bacchus family for years, and although Cleo's presence meant more information, it also meant that the family had gone underground. Even if they built a solid case, they can't put people in prison if they can't find them.

"I've told you everything I know. I had an average childhood. I had no idea that my mother was a villain until the other day, so I was never looking for signs, so I don't know what you're looking for." Cleo spoke in a calm voice.

The detective let out an aggravated sigh, and pulled out a paper from a folder in front of him. He slid the paper in front of her, and as she locked eyes with the villain in the mugshot, she froze.

"We suspect that he's been working with your mother. He has a fire based quirk and a medical degree, which he uses to harvest organs and burn evidence." The detective explained.

Cleo didn't move, her muscles tense, and didn't acknowledge the detective's words.

"Have you seen him before?" The detective asked.

Cleo didn't respond.

Her eyes were wide, but nothing else gave way the terror in them. Not a tremor or change in breath. Just those eyes.

"Cleo?" All Might asked.

She didn't respond.

"Bacchus?" The detective asked.

No response.

The door opened suddenly, and a chipper woman flashed them a smile, brandishing multiple hot drinks. She was a new officer, just out of the academy, with long dark hair pulled back and crisp uniform.

"I know you've been at this for a while. Here's some warm beverages." She said, and started handing out the drinks. "Cleo, your hot chocolate is especially hot, so be careful when you-"

She tripped, spilling the scalding drink along Cleo's hands and the table.

The new officer froze in horror, and the detective scolded her. His folder was soaked.

Cleo's hands were blistering red, but she had a calm expression, as if nothing had just happened.

"Cleo, your hands!" All Might exclaimed.

The sound seemed to shake her, causing her to snap her eyes to him, and then to her hands on the table.

She seemed to disregard them, as if the blistering flesh were merely a new nail color she didn't care for.

3.

Cleo didn't say a word after that.

Even when they went to the hospital and the nurses asked her questions, she didn't speak.

The damage wasn't permanent, but All Might was startled by Cleo's reaction.

As she sat in the hospital room, alone, All Might met with the detective outside.

"He's known as the Harvester. When we arrived, I asked the nurse to check her for scarring that could be indicative of burns as a child. Cleo has burns along her stomach and thighs that could be from him. Her response is all I needed to confirm that he worked with her mother. I'm done with questioning her, for now." The detective said.

"Will you be prosecuting her at all?" All Might asked.

"No. She's free to go, but I'd like her to stay close by. If she leaves the school for more than a night, I'd like to be notified."

"I understand. Thank you." All Might said sincerely.

The detective nodded and walked off.

All Might turned, looking at the young woman in the room, and looked at her bandaged hands.

She still looked so dazed. She quietly sat on the bed, in the hospital gown, and staring at her bandaged hands, slowly opening and closing them.

Her gaze moved to the open window.

All Might opened the door and walked inside, getting her attention.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" All Might asked.

She looked down at her hands, and after a few seconds, she suddenly made a strange, barking sound.

Then, she reached for her neck, touching her tanned skin.

"... Cleo?" He asked.

"Sorry… I was trying to figure out if I was awake." Cleo apologized.

"... what do you mean?" All Might asked.

"I had nightmares when I was younger. I'd wake my mom up from screaming every night, so she put a shock collar on me. Whenever I screamed, it shocked me. I learned to not make sounds when I was scared." Cleo explained, and sent a smile his way.

All Might couldn't bring himself to smile back, looking at her hands again.

She hadn't even flinched.

"What?" Cleo asked.

"... I'm sorry you went through that." All Might said.

"It's fine. It made me stop screaming in my sleep, so it worked." Cleo assured with a smile.

All Might wasn't sure how to respond to that.

At the very least, she wouldn't have to be near that monster again. She'd be safe at UA.

4.

Katsuki frowned as he walked outside with his parents.

They went to a small area near the dorms, where a bench and unlit lamp post were. A gentle breeze rolled by, causing a sway in the trees, and leaves were sent falling around them.

"I want you to keep your distance from the Bacchus girl." His mother stated.

"Why?" Katsuki asked.

"Her mother is a villain. There's no telling what she is." She replied.

"You probably spent more time with her mom than she did." Katsuki pointed out.

He remembered seeing Cleo when they were young. When she scraped her knee, instead of going to her mom, she took care of it herself. When Katsuki screamed for his mom when he was hungry, she would make it herself. She was terrified of bothering her mother.

Katsuki's mother, on the other hand, spent two nights a week with her every week. They did shopping together, trips together- Katsuki had once wondered if they were gay for each other. When he asked, his mother yelled and hit him, telling him that he was a "rude idiot."

Ever since then, whenever he hinted at that, she'd start yelling, just like now.

He yelled back, continuing their argument. They went on for a while, getting strange looks from students as they did.

"SO LONG AS I CAN FIGHT HER, I DON'T CARE!" Katsuki finally shouted.

5.

By that night, Cleo was back.

She had a lot of homework.

Tenya sat with her in the commons, going over what she missed.

He took notes for her.

He was detailed.

She had missed a lot.

She frowned, her elbows on her knees, and she rested her chin on her palms. The notebooks and textbooks were open around the table.

She would need to hide in the library for the next few days to catch up. She'd never had difficulty in school, so she wouldn't struggle as much as others, but… this would still be a lot to catch up on.

She had to keep her grades up. The only reason that she wasn't her mother's pawn anymore or in jail was because of her positive image with the teachers.

If her grades slipped….

"... how have you been, since the virus thing?" Tenya asked suddenly.

"... I've been better." Cleo shrugged, and sighed. _So much homework_. "How have you been?"

"A little anxious, honestly. I think everyone is still a little shaken. Seeing you try to leave was really scary."

"I'm sorry for scaring you." Cleo said, and sat back in her seat. They were on one of the bigger couches together in the center.

"What happened back there? Where did you and All Might go?"

Cleo glanced around them, finding that they were alone.

"It's going to be in the news, so I might as well tell you… my mom was apparently a really bad villain, and she had connections to the Demon King. I spent the last few days talking to police about her and trying to help them catch her." Cleo explained in a low voice, and Tenya's eyes widened in alarm.

"Your mom is a villain? Did you know?" Tenya asked.

"No. I had no idea." Cleo said honestly.

"Wow." Tenya said, trying to absorb her words.

He stared at the notes for a while, quietly thinking, and she started to get unnerved by the silence.

"The teachers at UA liked me enough to defend me. All Might stood by me the entire time. He's an amazing person." Cleo said with an awkward smile.

"You're a great student with a good heart. That makes sense." Tenya said.

"Thanks." Cleo said.

He still stared at the notes, thinking hard about when she told him.

"Thank you for the notes, Tenya. Do you mind if I borrow them tonight? I'm going to head over to the library to study." Cleo asked.

"Yeah, sure." Tenya said distractedly.

6.

Bakugou went over to the library that night, only 20 minutes before closing.

He walked around the expansive library, looking down the halls, across floors, and in the corners. The three floored library was massive, and it took him ten minutes to find the winged student tucked away in a corner.

She was at a table covered in textbooks, notebooks, and a laptop. She was frowning at her laptop screen filled with words, her jacket draped over the back of her chair, and her hands covered in bandages.

"The library closes in ten minutes" the automated speaker system announced, and Cleo let out a loud grunt in response.

She glanced over at him, finally noticing his presence, and grunted again as she turned back to her screen.

"Glad to see you, too." Bakugou said sarcastically. He walked to behind her, pulled her shoulders back to meet the chair's back, and put one of his hands on her head.

"I wish the library wasn't closing." Cleo said.

"What's wrong with the dorms?" Bakugou asked.

"I don't want to deal with classmates yet." Cleo admitted.

"Because your mom is a villain?" Bakugou asked, and noticed her tense. His gaze moved back to her bandaged hands, and he tried to remember seeing her hands injured during the virus outbreak.

"Did Tenya tell you?" Cleo asked.

"My mom came by and yelled at me. She doesn't want me to be around you anymore." Bakugou said, and reached around to her chin, making her look up at him.

"Are you going to listen to her?" Cleo asked.

"What do you think?" He asked, and caressed the side of her jaw with his thumb.

A smile spread along her face, and a warm tingling sensation filled him at the sight. She looked so beautiful when she smiled like that.

"What happened do your hands?" Bakugou asked.

"Someone spilled scalding hot cocoa on me. Second degree burns." Cleo answered, and he rolled his eyes.

"Hot chocolate? Seriously?" Bakugou asked.

"They spilled it on me, it wasn't my fault." Cleo said.

"5 minutes until library closes" the speakers announced.

"Help me carry these?" Cleo asked, and wiggled her bandaged fingers.

"Whatever." Bakugou said as he stepped back, and went around to start closing the books and stacking them. "How did you carry them here?"

"The tops of my fingers were burned, so it doesn't hurt as much to carry them." Cleo said, and once her things were gathered, they started their trek.

As they left, the librarian looked their way and smirked. Bakugou glared in response.

When they got outside, Cleo shivered, and he glanced over to see that her jacket was gone. She turned, going back to the door, but it wouldn't open.

"... I guess I'll get it tomorrow, then." Cleo said with a frown, and shivered again.

"Let's get going." Bakugou told her.

"Yeah." She nodded with a frown. As they walked, she frowned as she looked at the ground, and shifted the strap of her bag along her shoulder.

His gaze accidentally moved to her cleavage, which was emphasized by the bag strap. The added weight in her bag added more bust.

"I wonder if there's any jobs on campus if can do." Cleo spoke suddenly, getting his attention.

"Why?" Bakugou asked.

"I was living on money from my mom, but now that she's running from the law, her accounts are frozen. That means my funds are gone." Cleo explained.

"Ah." Bakugou nodded. When they got to the commons, they were surprised to see so many people awake. They seemed to be quizzing each other for tomorrow's exam. "You know about the exam tomorrow, right?"

"What exam?" She asked, turning to him with her shoulders falling.

"Math." He said.

"So much for sleep." She said, and looked back at the group. "I think I'm going to study in my room. Can you walk me up there?"

He nodded, and quietly followed her. None of their classmates seemed to notice their arrival.

They were quiet as they walked.

When they reached her room, she unlocked the door, and turned the light on. He followed her inside, kicking the door closed behind him, and walked over to the bed to drop off the books.

He looked around, taking in the simple room. She had a long mirror with a small pile of fabrics and sewing supplies next to it. Her bed had a bright green comforter, there was various exercise equipment in the corner, and then large bookcase filled with books. There was a poster on the wall featuring an American music group called Darling Violetta. The desk was completely barren of items.

He'd never seen a girls room before. He wasn't entirely impressed. Aside from the poster, it looked a lot like his room.

"Thank you, Katsuki." Cleo said, flashing him a smile. "Is math the only test tomorrow?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Then I'll focus on that." Cleo said.

As she started getting ready to study at her desk, he passively walked over to her bookcase, deciding to read the titles. None of them he recognized, aside from the school textbooks, but a lot of them were hero studies based. Different strategies when fighting villains, costume tech, etc.

_That one guy said she was good at designing costumes._

There was a sketchbook in the corner of the room, with a drawing on top, and he went closer. It seemed to be a professional design of a costume he didn't recognize. The costume was well drawn, the technology and materials very clearly labeled, paragraphs detailed the more intricate parts.

He knelt down, looking closer, and froze.

That wasn't a printed design she got from the Internet or some book.

"What the fuck is this?" Bakugou asked.

"Oh, the costume drawing? It was just a fun costume idea I had for Sue. Sometimes when I'm bored I do designs for fellow students or established heroes. I like doing research for them." Cleo answered.

His eye twitched, recalling his own drawing he sent to the costume department.

He picked up the sketchbook and started going through the pages to the different designs.

"Why the fuck are you in the hero course?" Bakugou asked.

"Costume design was my backup plan because my sister was in the field. She only had her position by fucking her boss, apparently, so it's not my backup plan anymore." Cleo replied.

His eye twitched again, still thinking about his own costume drawing.

As he looked through the designs, he became jealous and concerned about her talent. If their classmates got a hold of these, they might come close to beating him in a fight.

"Have any of our classmates seen these?" Bakugou asked.

"No. Tenya asked me to help with his, but he's doing all the work, I'm just helping him brainstorm. He hasn't seen my other designs." Cleo replied.

He happened across Tenya's design, and grunted.

The design was complex and looked a lot sleeker than his existing one.

As he skimmed the pages, he was slightly disappointed to not see one for himself. She did designs for half the class, but he wasn't one of them.

"If I helped you study, would you design me a costume?" Bakugou asked.

"... you want me to help you?" She asked.

He shifted, seeing that she'd turned in her seat to look at him.

"What?" He asked.

"The Great Lord Murder Explosion wants help with something?" She asked with a smile.

"If Deku can get help from All Might, then I can get help from you." Katsuki stated with a half glare.

"You're comparing me to All Might now?" She asked, her grin going wider.

"The All Might of costume design, maybe." He said, finding her smile a little too enjoyable. "So, will you do it?"

"I think I'll be fine for the test, I just need to study the material more on my own. I'll start thinking of ideas and things to trade, though." Cleo said.

Bakugou grunted, and went back to looking at her designs.

7.

The next day, Cleo trudged to class and went to her usual seat.

She slumped over her desk, wishing that she could have gotten more sleep, and groaned when she felt someone poking her head.

"Late night?" Bakugou asked.

"I stayed up all night studying, and then accidentally fell asleep, only to wake up 20 minutes later. Nng." Cleo grunted, and sat up to look at him.

"Are you going to the library after class?" He asked.

"Probably." Cleo replied, and looked over just as a few of their classmates looked away.

Word was spreading.

She let out a slow, calming breath.

She looked at the clock. She had enough time to puke up her nerves in the bathroom before class started.

8.

Bakugou eyed the sick student as she made her way back to her seat.

He couldn't remember the last time he saw her well rested.

"Good morning, class." Aizawa greeted, also looking tired. "In one week, we're going to be hosting a small class tournament for your families to watch. It'll be held at the same place the televised school tournament was held, and will function like the last round of that tournament, with the one-on-one fights. For the first fight, it will be two vs two, and you'll be able to choose your partner and your opponents.

"The benefit of this is that you'll be able to coordinate with your partner to show off some of your more powerful and unique attacks, while also showing your ability to work with others. Heroes commonly choreograph fighting routines for ads, promotional videos, and other things of that nature. This'll give you the chance to show off to your parents and teachers, highlight what you've learned, and try out your trickier moves. After the first round, it'll shift to one-on-one fights that you'll learn the pairing for on the day of. Questions?"

9.

At lunch, Bakugou glared at his remaining classmates. The others were eating at different places on campus.

Behind him, Cleo snored softly. After the math test, she fell asleep, and stayed asleep. He was pretty sure that she hadn't brought a lunch, anyway.

While the others started teaming up or talking about different ideas for choreographed moves, he thought about the people he wanted to fight.

Todoroki. Midoria. Cleo.

_Potentially Iida._

He thought about his parents, and if he wanted to go out of his way to impress them.

He just wanted to win. He didn't want a hollow, choreographed win, like the competition.

His eyes narrowed, thinking about that day, and he growled low.

"Why is he growling at me…?" Eijiro asked across the room, and he realized that he'd been staring.

"Have you idiots chosen a team yet?" Bakugou barked.

"No, everyone decided to wait until after school to decide. We're going to meet up at the commons and decide as at group, so that everyone can fight someone that compliments their quirk and fighting style." Eijirou said.

Bakugou grunted.

10.

Cleo was half awake as she sat in the commons, listening to people talking about choreographed fights and teams.

"... since some people fight twice, that means that those people should lose at least one of those fights, in order to let as many people fight as possible." Izuku spoke in front of the board. They'd already written down a few ideas for team ups.

"Agreed." Tenya said.

"Fuck that, I'm not throwing a fight for you weaklings!" Bakugou shouted.

"Then you won't fight twice." Hanta said simply.

"I won't have parents there, so I don't mind throwing fights or helping people show off their quirks." Cleo said.

"Aren't you interested in the extra credit?" Ochaco asked.

"Oh yeah, the winner gets extra credit. They'll also be scoring us on presentation." Eijiro said.

"Whatever." Cleo said, and yawned tiredly. "I don't mind fighting twice, if people want me to. I'm pretty durable for strong attacks."

_Did I just volunteer to be a punching bag?_

"I volunteer, too." Tenya said, and they started asking everyone if they wanted to be in one or two fights.

One of the potential fights would be between Izuku and Ochaco vs. Cleo and Tenya.

11.

After the meeting, Cleo went back to the library to study.

While she was there, Bakugou showed up.

He stood behind her, again, and pulled her back to look up at him again.

They were in a pretty secluded part of the library.

His calloused hands went across her neck and face, caressing her skin, and a happy grin tugged at her features. His fingertips sent sparks along her skin, and she loved the gentle and sweet affection he provided.

"What do you think of the fights coming up?" He asked.

"I'm not looking forward to them. I can tell that everyone is apprehensive about me, and their parents might be upset when they learn that a villain's daughter is going to school with their kid." Cleo explained.

"The only one you'd have to worry about is Endeavor, and I doubt he'll care." Bakugou spoke, using a softer tone than usual.

"Just the number one hero in all of Japan and the most terrifying. Nothing to worry about." Cleo said.

"Exactly." Katsuki agreed.

They stayed like that for a while, petting her face and having a quiet conversation about casual things.

12.

They had Cleo walk in first, and then a little while later have Katsuki walk in. Neither of them felt like adding to the gossip mill.

As he walked in, he was slightly irked to see Cleo chatting with Tenya and Deku, using such fake smiles.

"Oh, that's no problem. I'm sure that Bakugou will be thrilled." Cleo said, and Deku looked up, meeting his gaze.

"Hey Ka-chan, we decided to have you and Denki fight Cleo and Eijirou for next week." Deku told him.

Bakugou shrugged indifferently. Seemed like a fine match up.

"Oh, I'll be able to do jogging in the morning again, Tenya. See you bright and early tomorrow?" Cleo asked, and Tenya paused awkwardly.

"Well, only if you're up for it. I know that you've been through a lot recently. Izuku and Ochaco have started joining me in the morning, so don't worry about keeping me company." Tenya said awkwardly.

"... I kind of liked doing the morning jogs. It was a good way to get fresh air and start the day." Cleo said, keeping her casual smile.

"Do you want to join us too, Ka-chan?" Deku asked with a dumb grin.

Katsuki briefly pondered it. Tenya had been trying to rope in more people for his jogs, and they would be good training.

"Sure." He shrugged.

"Great! That makes five!" Deku said excitedly.

"Awesome. I'm going to go catch up on sleep, and I'll see you all in the morning." Cleo said, and gave them a wave as she walked off. Once she was in the elevator, Tenya let out a sigh of relief.

"It's so weird to know that her mom is a villain, now." Tenya admitted.

"Yeah, but she's still our classmate. I'll bet she's really upset over her mom." Deku commented.

"How can you live with a villain your whole life and not know? I mean, how do we know that she was completely innocent in all that? Supposedly her mom was working behind her back, but if that was true, wouldn't she be more upset? For the most part she's just been upbeat and smiling." Tenya spoke.

"Everyone processes things in their own way, and there's no way she's a villain. She's training to be a hero like us." Deku pointed out.

"I don't know." Tenya said, and sighed. "I'm going to get some food."

As he walked away, Katsuki and Deku were left alone.

"What do you think?" Deku asked.

"Didn't Tenya confess to liking her or some shit last week? What changed?" Katsuki asked.

"Most people are a little on edge since they heard. Tenya comes from a family of heroes, so it's probably harder for him to empathize." Deku said.

"That's dumb. She hasn't changed." Katsuki commented.

"He does make a good point, though. How do you live with someone your entire life and have no idea they were a villain?" Deku asked.

"Maybe she did know, and that's why she decided to become a hero. So that she could do something." Katsuki suggested with a shrug.

"Huh." Deku said thoughtfully, touching his chin with his index finger. "That would make sense."

"Whatever." Katsuki said, and bumped their shoulders as he went to his room.

13.

By the next day, Cleo had caught up with her classes.

When she got to the usual meeting spot for morning jogging, dressed in short running shorts and t-shirt, she looked around for her classmates. She was holding Tenya's notebooks, looking around the main entrance of the dorms, and didn't see anyone.

She checked the clock again.

She was on time, unless they changed the time on her.

She stepped outside the door, and in the distance, she saw the small group, minus Katsuki, jogging away from her.

Her shoulders fell slightly, and she looked down at the notebooks in her bandaged hands.

_I should see the nurse about that._ She thought sadly, and looked around again.

Katsuki would probably oversleep. He didn't even ask for their meeting time and didn't seem very enthused, anyway.

_Maybe we can do night jogging together. That way I'd get to sleep in, anyway._

She bottled up her disappointment, and took a few deep breaths.

_Could be worse._

_.. I need to job hunt, too, anyway._

14.

By the time that class started, she had a part time job at the school weightlifting gym and her bandages off. The nurse healed her burns the rest of the way.

Working at the gym was ideal. She'd learn how to use the equipment, what hours were busiest, and maybe even get to know other classmen that utilized physical strength based quirks, like her. She could make new friends and allies.

When Bakugou arrived, his hair was the usual mess, and he seemed indifferent to the people around him. He dropped his heavy bag on the ground and plopped down in his seat.

Cleo tapped his shoulder, and he turned with a groggy glare. His hair was still wet, so he probably overslept and rushed to get here.

"I'm going to be working at the weight lifting gym everyday from 6 to 8, and then all day Saturday. Do you want to do night jogging around campus with me at 8:30 on school days?" Cleo asked.

"Aren't you doing the dumb morning jogging with people?" Bakugou asked.

"... they don't really want to jog with me. I'd rather jog with you, anyway. Plus, we'll be able to sleep in longer this way. I'm more of a night owl anyway." Cleo explained with a smile.

"People are weirded out by your mom being a villain." Bakugou told her.

"... I figured. That's why I'm not going to waste too much time with them." Cleo said, and frowned as her stomach whined.

"Skip breakfast?" Katsuki asked.

"I forget meals sometimes. I've been busy lately." Cleo shrugged, and leaned back in her seat.

"If I took you out to eat, would you do the costume design for me?" Katsuki asked.

She paused, her eyebrows rising, and she tried to keep her heart from racing at the implication.

"... like a date?" She asked.

His cheeks heated up and eyes went wide. "No, you idiot. I buy you food and you do the drawing."

"Costume designs, really nice ones, take a lot of time and energy to make." Cleo told him.

"You made designs for half the class." He pointed out.

"But none of them are going to actually be used. If I'm going to design something for you to actually use, I want to make sure that it's safe and works for you. A faulty design could get you hurt." Cleo pointed out.

"... how many meals would it take?" He asked hesitantly.

She couldn't help but smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Three? The first one we'll brainstorm, and then the other two will be spent actually working and finalizing the design." Cleo said.

"Fine. Three meals." Bakugou agreed.

"You must have been really impressed with my designs… or you want to beat Deku that badly." Cleo added in afterthought.

He didn't respond, turning back around to face the front.

15.

Tuesday, 6:00 PM

When Cleo arrived at the weight lifting gym, she smiled and nodded to people. She'd never actually been to this part of the building before.

There were large heroes in training all over the room, using various equipment, and working together. Some of them were mountains of muscle, while others were small and thin. There was a lot of variety.

"6 to 8 on weekdays is the busiest time. Effectively you'll be helping me make sure everyone follows the rules, uses equipment safely, and if someone leaves out equipment, you put it away. It's a tripping hazard, so even though it's annoying, you need to put it away every time." Her supervisor explained, and she nodded away with the usual smile.

16.

Sunday, 11:30 PM

Over the course of the week working at the weight lifting gym, she got bumped to a later shift.

People stopped going to the gym because of her, so they switched her to the shift when the least amount of people show up. They wanted to encourage student participation here as much as possible.

Which, was fine with Cleo. There was the least amount to do for this shift, and the people who lifted weight were recluses. They brought their lifting partner and stayed quiet the entire time, only occasionally having a quiet conversation.

Cleo sat at a desk, feet on the counter, passively lifting weights with her wings while doing homework. The time she was scheduled for was perfect for studying.

She was slightly nervous for the following day. They would be doing the choreographed fights the following day.

Bakugou was useless and Eijirou would only talk to her long enough to confirm that in the fight, he would fight Denki while Bakugou would fight Cleo.

Eijirou and Denki were signed up to fight in other teams, so they weren't investing in this fight.

As she read her book, she saw someone enter in the corner of her eye, and glanced up to see Mirio walking in. He seemed alone, and when he locked eyes with her, his face lit up. He waved in her direction.

"Hello! You're Bacchus, right?" Mirio asked.

"Yeah. Mirio, right?" She replied with a courteous smile.

"Yes!" He replied exuberantly. "Are you working?"

"I am. Is there something you need help with?" Cleo asked.

"Well, I usually come earlier with a partner, but for reasons I wasn't able to come in at the usual time." He said awkwardly.

"I can spot you, if you need one." Cleo offered.

"I lift really heavy weights. Is there anyone else working?"

"No, but I wouldn't be allowed to work here if I wasn't strong. I can spot you, if you want." Cleo said.

"Alright." He said with a smile, the earlier awkwardness leaving.

Cleo was deceptively strong, especially in the all black uniform. They toned down her muscles and made them less conspicuous.

As he started to prep his weights, she set her weights down and marked her page. She went over and stood near him, helping with the finishing parts, and then got in position.

He started lifting the bar, which seemed too easy for him, and smiled up at her again.

"So you're the freshman with a villain parent, right?" He asked as he lifted.

"Yep." Cleo replied.

"That must be rough. How are you holding up?" He asked.

"It's weird." She replied.

"I like to listen to people talk while doing reps. Tell me about it." Mirio requested.

Cleo paused, watching him bench 500 lbs like it was nothing, and chuckled.

"My mom used to guilt trip me to be a hero. When I was little I hurt her pretty bad with my quirk, or I thought I did anyway, so she kept reminding of that whenever I wanted to quit. She said that if I didn't work hard and do as she said, then I would become a villain. There was no in between. Only hero or villain.

"So here I am, a hero in training, because my entire life my mom told me to be one, and suddenly, it turns out she was a villain this entire time. It's kind of a relief, honestly." Cleo said.

"A relief?" He asked.

"I used to think that being a hero required following in her footsteps and doing as she said, even though I knew what she was doing was wrong. Now that I know she was a villain, that makes me more sure that I'm not one. I'm no longer terrified of being a villain because I know what they are, now. I'm not sure if that makes any sense." Cleo explained.

"I think I get it. So you had the fear of being a villain for a long time, then?" Mirio asked.

"My entire life. Now I'm not afraid of that anymore. I have other things to be scared of, but now I'm not scared of myself." Cleo explained.

"I see. That does seem like a relief." He agreed.

He stared up at her, expectantly, still doing reps.

"A lot of people don't like me now because of my mom. I'm surprised that you don't seem bothered." Cleo commented.

"If you were a villain, the teachers would have expelled you. How has your quirk training been going? Are you excited to do your internships soon?" Mirio asked.

"Training has been going fine. I've been lifting dumbbells with my wings to get them stronger, jogging with Katsuki, and I have a new costume to work in. I'm a little nervous for the fights tomorrow. Katsuki has been wanting to fight me for a while, but since we're fighting in teams, I'm a little worried about our team members. Katsuki isn't going to hold back and he'll blow up everything and everyone in his path to fight me. Have you met him?" Cleo asked.

"Not in person. He's the one that won the UA tournament, right?" Mirio asked.

"Yeah. I'm not sure how my costume will hold up against his explosions, since the school tries to be cheap with costumes. Which isn't bad, it just means that I don't know what'll happen. He's not going to hold back, and I'm not sure if Eijirou and Denki will be able to handle that." Cleo explained.

"So it'll be you against Bakugou, essentially. Who do you think will win?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly. He'll probably try to take out my wings early on and turn it into a fist fight. We're pretty evenly matched in fist fights, but I'm a little stronger. It'll come down to who passes out first or accidentally goes over the line, so it could come down to luck at the end." Cleo surmised.

"Sounds like it'll be a good fight to watch." Mirio said, and then set the bar on the hooks. "Your turn."

"I'm working." Cleo pointed out.

"No one needs you, and there's nothing else for you to do." Mirio pointed out as he stood, wiped down the mat, and then smiled at her. "I'll spot you."

She knew the other staff worked out when things were slow.

She shrugged, and took his place.

"Is the weight okay?" He asked.

"20 less would be ideal." Cleo replied, and he took off 10 from each side.

After exercising together and chatting more, Mirio helped her clean up, and then walked her back to her dorm building.

17.

Monday, 9:00 AM

An hour before the fights, Katsuki's dad asked to speak to him. Alone.

Katsuki would have preferred to stay at the fighting arena, but his father insisted, which was unusual for him. Instead of timid and weak, he was coming across as aggravated and in control.

As they walked away from the arena, they were quiet. Neither of them acknowledged the people around them as they passed by. There seemed to be a lot of people attending the 1-A fights that day. Some teachers were allowing students to watch instead of attending class.

"Where are we going?" Katsuki asked.

"We'll go to that bench over there." His father said, and pointed to a bench not far away, which was off the main path and slightly secluded.

"Whatever." Katsuki grumbled.

When they reached the bench, his dad let out a tired sigh, and sat down. His shoulders were slumped, head down, showing off the balding spot on his head.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, son. I'm sorry that I have to, and the timing wasn't better, but I wanted you to hear it from me first, in case rumors spread." His father spoke.

"What?" Katsuki asked.

"... I guess I'll just say it… there's a lot to say…" He said uneasily. Katsuki glared at him, impatiently waiting. "As you may have guessed, your mother and I are gay. Your mother was involved with Hoshi, Cleo Bacchus', mother. I've been involved with Korri, and we've decided to move in together. Your mother and I are getting divorced."

Katsuki gaped at him, letting the information sink in.

"... what?" Katsuki asked. "You're a fucking homo?"

His father flinched at his words.

"How… are you a woman?" Katsuki asked.

"No, I'm a man. Your mother is a woman. We didn't know we were gay when we married, but when we realized, we started to see other people. We didn't want to involve you, because we love you, and we were concerned about your reaction."

Katsuki stood there, his brain slowing to sludge, trying to process what his father was telling him.

… his parents were gay.

… they were getting a divorce.

18.

Monday, 10:00 AM

Cleo glanced Katsuki's way as he approached their class.

His shoulders were bunched up, his head low, and he stood to the side of the group, ignoring them.

When he looked up, their eyes met.

She was momentarily stunned by the anger in his eyes.

He was ready to fight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** I feel so uncomfortable adding this information, but I feel like people need to know about it. I usually try to keep these stories strictly about the fanfic/story it's based on, but I want to get information out there about it, and since most of my readers are most likely female... well, I felt like this would be useful to all of you.

First off, sorry for the delay. Life's been stressful. ^^" Buuuuut, speaking of stressful, I learned something other night that actively freaked me out, and I want people to know about it so that something can be done about it, or at the very least, people are made aware. It's completely unrelated to the chapter, so you can skip it, but I don't recommend it.

****WARNING, gross info**** If you live in the US, it's perfectly legal in 45 states for hospital staff to let medical students perform nonconsensual pelvic exams on women who are under anesthesia. It's not required for them to ask permission nor even inform them of it, before or afterwards. Multiple people without medical licenses, without consent, are instructed to insert their fingers into the person's vagina, as a "teaching tool" for the students, at no benefit to the person unconscious. It's not even after they have gynecological surgery; women having unrelated surgery, like stomach surgery, are violated by students they were not told about. Teaching schools across the country do this as a routine practice for their medical students. Only a few states have this practice be illegal, so I recommend that you see if you're in one of those states. If someone is under anesthesia, or unconscious, they can have their most intimate body parts violated, and never even know it. Hospitals across the country are effectively letting their patients be raped by medical students, and it's perfectly legal.** **WARNING OVER, gross part done****

If you want more info, PM me and I can send you links and articles, or just summarize a lot of the information for you. I find it absolutely terrifying that this is a thing- I only learned about it because New York banned the practice, and I wondered why they would need to ban something like that. Other big name organizations have revoked the practice, too, but that doesn't stop it from happening. And it's not just a rare instance- it's a common occurrence, a common practice, which is why it freaks me out so much. It's absolutely disgusting and terrifying.

Sorry for the disturbing info at the beginning of the chapter. I know, hearing information like that can be extremely disheartening, especially with all of the anti-women laws in general being introduced in some states (the anti-abortion laws). Most people have surgery at some point in their life, though, so this isn't something that can be ignored. People need to be aware, when they go in for surgery, and get as much information as possible. Make sure that EVERY staff member knows exactly what your wishes are and read the fine print.

I'll also be putting the above information in the next few chapters at the top, in case anyone misses it. Again, sorry it's gross.

Thank you to everyone to reviews, follows, and favorites this story, and has kept up with it after all this time! I appreciate all of you. Stay safe. 3 This'll be the last time I include this information at the top of the chapters. The ones after this won't have them.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

_Does it Matter?_

As Cleo sat with her classmates on the sidelines, on the side opposite of the parents, she occasionally eyed Katsuki.

He was quiet, pensive, and tense.

There was something off about him. Something different.

Watching the fights was interesting, and the cheers from the stadium amusing. Any not family members or staff were asked to watch from the bleachers, out of the way.

Shouto and Momo were fighting Izuku and Tenya. The fights was complex, overly thought out, and a little too staged. Shouto held back considerably to not overshadow his opponents, and let everyone shine. Izuku had clearly planned everything out.

They were not supposed to go overboard with their quirks, since their parents were so close by. Most of them weren't heroes who could dodge or survive a misdirected hit. Cementoss was there to protect them, but he was supposed to be a last resort.

A lot of the family members kept giving her scrutinizing looks. The Iida family was especially hostile.

After the fighting, the family members, teachers, and students would eat together in the school cafeteria. Cleo would probably hide in a corner or something. She didn't know what she would do during that.

When it was her turn to go up, she took a deep breath, and stood. Eijirou smiled and high-fived her on their way to the fighting platform.

The fight was over when five minutes passed or both team members went out of bounds.

Katsuki and Denki stood on the other side of the platform.

Katsuki cracked his neck, and a crazed grin tugged at his lips.

"Good luck." Eijirou told her.

"You too. Be careful not to get hit when I throw him to the ground." Cleo warned.

"Try not to hit me."

"I'll do my best."

"Remember, this is to show technique, not go all out with your quirks. Be mindful of our audience." Aizawa said, looking to Katsuki.

Katsuki passively nodded, his eyes still locked on Cleo.

"Start."

Before he finished the word, Katsuki was running at her, hands sparking.

She sent him flying into the air, and he turned midair, trying to keep the fight on the ground. She leaped up, punching him in the stomach and sending him higher into the air.

As he set off explosions, trying to control where they went and get a direct hit, she pulled and redirected them, using her wings to turn them midair to catch him off guard.

They swung and moved in the air, grappling and firing, until finally, she managed to throw him back to the ground, missing Eijirou. She flew straight down and punched his gut again, landing a solid hit, cracking the concrete beneath him, but then he set off an explosion, sending her flying off.

The smoke blinded her to him grabbing her wing, and he threw her to the ground, immersing her in dust again.

"Cleo?!" Eijirou called out.

Then, Cleo felt a jolt of electricity.

"_Don't make a sound, or else the monsters will eat you. Don't make a sound, or else mom will beat you."_

She had developed a tolerance to electricity at a young age.

Just as the smoke started to clear, she saw Eijirou unconscious a few feet away, and then Katsuki getting ready to pull the small metal pin on his arm.

"Hold on, Eijirou is in the way!" Denki yelled.

Cleo used her wing to shove Eijirou out of the way, out of bounds, and then brought her stumps together in front of her, with the tips stabbing into the concrete. She brought her forearms together against her stumps, tucked her head inside to make sure it was well protected, and kneeled, taking up as little space as possible.

Not a second after bracing herself, she became completely engulfed in heat.

The explosion roared around her, enveloping her in heat and raw strength.

She could feel the armor start to crack.

Just as she felt the heat start to fade and sound dull, she was hit by another equally powerful blast.

Her anchor started to shift and move.

The webbing was gone.

Her costume was breaking apart.

Her skin burned.

Her helmet held.

Her stumps held. They didn't burn, and stayed powerful and solid like a towering tree.

For what felt like hours, the heat kept going, and then finally stopped.

The ground around her was charred.

A lot of her costume had burned, her skin blistered, and she stayed still only long enough to make sure enough of her costume was still in tact to fight.

She was only inches away from the boundary line.

He only had two attacks like that.

She bolted forward, before he could attack her again, catching him off guard.

She pierced both of the gadgets on his arms with enough force to push him down and break his gear.

The leftover explosive liquid spilled to the ground beneath him.

He tried to kick her, but she grabbed his ankles and avoided getting kicked. As he wiggled from her grip, his gear thoroughly broke off of his arms, and he cursed loudly.

He jumped away, getting into his fighting stance again, but his hands didn't spark.

He looked at his hands in confusion.

"Bakugou! This fight is over. You're losing points for not following the rules." Aizawa said, and Cleo's stomach lurched.

She pulled her helmet up enough to puke, hurling the hot liquid.

Even though the helmet was still hot, she kept it on.

"Cleo, go to the infirmary. Bakugou, come over here." Aizawa ordered.

Katsuki growled, wanting to continue the fight, but grumbled and walked over to him.

A weird static sound filled her ears.

"_Don't make a sound, or else the monsters will eat you. Don't make a sound, or else mom will beat you."_

She dared not make a sound.

She started walking off of the platform, ignoring the world around her, and went straight for the nearest bathroom.

The remaining food in her stomach lurched into the nearest toilet.

Her helmet fell to the ground.

Everything spun.

She knelt on her knees, hearing nothing but static and that sing song voice echoing around her head, and dry heaving.

Her arms were blistered red.

_Am I awake?_

"_Don't make a sound, or else the monsters will eat you. Don't make a sound, or else mom will beat you."_

She felt her face, and surprised to find liquid on her cheeks.

All she could hear was static.

_Why is my face wet?_

"_Don't make a sound, or else the monsters will eat you. Don't make a sound, or else mom will beat you."_

_Denki's attack._

_The shock._

1.

Monday, 11:00 AM

Instead of going to the cafeteria for lunch, Katsuki went over to the infirmary.

She was on one of the beds, most of her burns not bandaged yet. She wore a sports bra and shorts, showing that most of her skin was covered in burns, and he guessed that the nurse already used her quirk on her.

Even after being healed, the burns were extensive. The only place untouched was her head.

The nurse was applying some kind of ointment.

"It'll be okay. All of this will heal." The nurse said as she worked. "Everything is ok."

He noticed that her bare wings seemed fine.

_Why the hell didn't she use her quirk on the rest of her body?_ Katsuki wondered.

"Did you hear me?" The nurse asked, and shifted to look Cleo in the eye.

She tilted her head to the side.

"Are you crying because you're in pain? Are you scared?" The nurse asked.

Cleo shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

The nurse snapped her fingers by Cleo's ear.

"How many snaps did I just do?" The nurse asked.

Cleo tilted her head to the side again.

Katsuki tensed.

_Why didn't she use her full quirk?_

The nurse took some kind of instrument and looked in Cleo's ears.

Then, she seemed to notice Katsuki's presence.

"Is there something you need?" The nurse asked.

"... I just wanted to check on Cleo." Katsuki said, his voice faltering slightly.

Cleo turned to him, and he tensed, seeing those wet cheeks. She smiled and waved to him, as if she wasn't covered in burns or crying.

"Did you see what happened? What kind of quirks were used on her?" The nurse asked.

"... Denki shocked her with his electricity quirk, and then… I hit her with my explosion quirk at full power." Katsuki replied.

"You did this?" The nurse snapped, and then rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."

"Will she be okay?" Katsuki asked.

"She's not acting like a normal person, so I might have her sent to the hospital." The nurse said.

"What do you mean, not normal?" Katsuki asked.

"She's not responding to external pain and she's deaf. Her heart rate is erratic and she's crying, but she's smiling, responsive, and seems calm. Half her body is covered in severe burns, she should be screaming in pain or at least responding to it." The nurse explained with a frown.

"She has a high tolerance for pain, and my attack could have been loud enough to cause ringing in her ears." Katsuki offered lamely.

"That explains some of it. I think that I'll send her to the emergency room. They'll be able to make sure that she didn't get any severe injuries or anything I can't see. I was told that your class was instructed to hold back their quirks today." She said, and gave him a pointed look.

A pang of guilt filled his chest.

He usually didn't feel bad for beating people in fights.

He usually didn't feel bad for not holding back. He thought that he had calculated everything perfectly.

"After the attack, she was able to destroy my gear and walk all the way here." Katsuki said as the nurse pulled out a phone and called someone, letting them know that she was bringing a patient to them.

He realized that Cleo was smiling his way.

He didn't smile back.

She gestured for him to come closer.

He walked closer, eyeing those wounds, and was hesitant.

Then, when he was close enough, she smacked his arm, and he cried out in surprise.

Then, she hit him again.

"Why the fuck didn't you use your quirk? Your wings held up fine, you fucking moron." Katsuki asked her.

She tapped her ear, and he rolled his eyes.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket (he'd left it with Hanta during his match) and pulled up a text app. He typed up what he had told her.

She rolled her eyes, grabbed the phone, and started to type. He leaned over his shoulder to read it.

"Denki? Are you fucking serious?" Katsuki asked as he gave her a look. She typed again.

"It's dumb. I know. It's complicated. The shock messed with my head. All I can hear is static now." Cleo typed.

He typed, "they're sending you to the ER. Apparently you're too weird to keep here."

She frowned, and looked around, seeing the nurse talking to someone on the phone.

"Bakugou, what are you doing here?" Aizawa yelled, causing Katsuki to jump in alarm.

"He's going to accompany Cleo to the hospital. Maybe if he sees the damage he causes, he'll learn to show restraint." The nurse said with a glare.

"Eh?" Katsuki asked.

"The hospital? The burns are that bad?" Aizawa asked.

The nurse repeated what she said earlier.

Cleo hit his arm, getting his attention, and he realized that she was trying to get Aizawa's attention. He ended up passing the phone to him and helping them communicate.

1.

Monday, 2:00 PM

There was an elderly couple crying in the corner.

A crying baby in a teenage boy's arms.

Another older couple was consoling their five year old child who was crying.

Everything smelled sterile.

Katsuki's phone was low on battery, so all he could do was quietly wait and look at the ten year old magazines on the table.

He'd been there for hours, occasionally being lectured by his teacher, who had been smart enough to bring a charger for his phone.

As he perused the hero themed magazine, he silently judged the various costumes on effectiveness. This particular issue was a fashion magazine focused on hero costumes; as a result, most of the designs were superfluous, impractical, and sometimes just stupid looking.

When he found one that looked particularly dumb, he scoffed. The female superhero was wearing a skin tight suit with lots of pockets to show skin, her "gear" looked extremely fragile, and it overall looked like something out of a porno magazine. She was in a miniskirt, her lower body faced away from the camera but her upper body twisted, emphasizing her bust, and she had a dumb expression on her face. With the angle, he was able to see more than he wanted under the skirt.

He looked at the designer name, and scoffed.

"Of course Cleo's sister designed that shit." Katsuki scoffed.

"Hmm?" Aizawa hummed, and glanced over.

"Cleo's sister designed that." Katsuki said.

"... ah." He said simply.

"Cleo's designs look a lot better. None of this extra frilly crap. Well, Mina had a little, but that's because of her personality." Katsuki said.

"Cleo designed a suit for Mina?" Aizawa asked.

"She designs costumes for fun. She has a sketchbook full of them." Katsuki replied.

"She showed you her designs?" Aizawa inquired.

"... yeah." Katsuki replied.

"You two seem to be spending a lot of time together lately." Aizawa commented.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Katsuki asked.

Then, they heard a scream, causing both heroes to look up.

There was something happening in the ER, past the doors where non-faculty weren't allowed.

Objects crashing.

More screams.

Staff in blue and pink rushed out the doors, and the heroes stood.

Aizawa was about to run in, when they heard loud bangs get closer, and the doors burst open.

A doctor fell to the ground, screaming, and covered in slash marks.

Cleo emerged, bandaged and bloody, with her eyes trained on the bloody doctor.

Her wings crossed, stabbing into his hands, and then uncrossed, attaching each hand to the opposite shoulder.

She picked him up with her wings, anchored into his shoulders, and then forced him into the wall nearest her.

The tips of her scaley wings jammed further into his hands and shoulders, stabbing into the wall.

The doctor cried out in pain and everyone fled from the room.

"Cleo, what are you doing?!" Aizawa yelled.

"Please, please help me! I was treating her when out of nowhere, she attacked me!" The doctor pleaded.

"He works with my mom. His name is Harvester, and his quirk is being able to burn any flesh he comes into contact with." Cleo said in a low voice, never moving her gaze from the bloody doctor.

"That's absurd! Until today, I never met this creature in my life! Get her off of me!" The doctor yelled.

"If you doubt me, then have literally any staff member confirm his identity. He probably killed whoever the real Dr. Brew." Cleo told Aizawa.

"This is absurd! Get her off of me!" The doctor yelled.

"If he can burn flesh, why isn't he burning your wings?" Aizawa asked.

"The scales act as a barrier. He has to have direct contact with soft flesh." Cleo replied.

"Let me go! Help! Someone, please help!"

"Th-that's not Dr. Brew!" A nurse from the desk yelled, getting their attention.

"She's lying! They're both lying! They're conspiring against me- this bitch stabbed me!" The doctor yelled.

"We'll have security confirm your identity, and if you are who you say you are, we'll release you and offer our most sincerest apology." Aizawa told him.

"Are you kidding me!? Stop her! Release me!" The doctor yelled as he struggled, managed to slip his shoe off, and tried to kick her in the face.

Her second pair of wings emerged in a blur, acting as a barrier between them. Then, Aizawa's bandages emerged from his coat, and wrapped around the doctor's lower body, immobilizing him.

"You cunt! Let me go!" The doctor screamed.

Katsuki's fist tightened, but he stood still.

He didn't have his hero license.

He couldn't help.

Multiple people suddenly entered, all of them security for the hospital.

"Help! This crazy girl started to attack me! Help!" The doctor yelled.

"He's not who he appears! This is a student from UA who has as hero license." Aizawa quacking explained.

Someone came in from a back door, wielding multiple guns and ammo strapped to their body.

"Aizawa, behind us!" Katsuki yelled.

The gun was aimed at Cleo.

He ran for her, covering her body with his own, but made sure to not push her into the doctor.

With her wings pinning him, she wouldn't be able to dodge.

Shots rang out.

Yells came from all around him.

Pain erupted into his right shoulder, but he stayed put, making sure that he was blocking her from the shooter.

He made sure that her head was tucked.

They weren't able to completely drop, but they were able to kneel.

The shots kept going.

Then, they stopped.

There was a pause.

"Bakugou, Bacchus, are you okay?" Aizawa asked.

He looked down at Cleo, and she looked back up at him, her eyes wide in alarm.

She shifted, and he cried out in pain.

"Katsuki's been shot!" Cleo yelled.

Then, Katsuki felt something against his temple, and looked up.

There was a third person, holding a hand gun against Katsuki's temple. Their face was covered in bandages.

"Release him, or else your boyfriend dies." They said in a deep, masculine voice.

_Not again. Shit._

"Put down your weapon." Aizawa ordered.

"If you move one inch, then I'll kill both of them." The bandaged man threatened.

Even if he wanted to fight him, he couldn't with his shoulder, and he didn't have the hero license.

"My wings are imbedded in the concrete. If you shoot either of us, there's no way that you can release him on your own before authorities get here. Normal blades won't work in cutting my wings." Cleo told him.

He kept the gun on Katsuki.

"Let Katsuki go to my teacher, and then I'll release your friend. The more you argue, the more time you waste." Cleo told him.

"Go." The bandaged man said, gesturing with his gun for Katsuki to move.

"I'm not going anywhere, you shit head." Katsuki told him.

"Katsuki, just go." Cleo said.

"Oh, and I should warn you," The bandaged man spoke, and shifted the gun to point at Cleo's head. "These are reinforced bullets that can shoot through concrete. Even your quirk won't protect you. Your father is the reason that I have these bullets."

"I won't try anything, I just want Katsuki to be safe. Once he's with Aizawa I'll release Harvester." Cleo told him.

"I'm not-" Katsuki started to say, but she sent him a glare.

"Move." The man said impatiently.

"Go. I'll be fine." Cleo assured.

Katsuki unwrapped himself from her, cringing at the pain in his shoulder. _You better have a plan._

He went over to Aizawa across the room. Aizawa told him to hide behind one of the thick chairs, and to stay close. They didn't know how many other villains were there.

He realized that the security team was dead.

A strangled cry filled the air, and he looked over, watching as Cleo started wiggling her wing to remove it from the wall.

"Shut up. You're so loud." The bandaged man said.

That didn't stop the Harvester from screaming in pain.

As she unlodged the first wing, blood sprayed out from the gaping wound.

She used her hands to grab her wing and pull.

The wing seemed stuck.

The Harvester kept crying in pain.

"Get ready to run out that door." Aizawa whispered to Bakugou, and nodded to the door directly behind them.

Katsuki inched closer to the door, watching Cleo carefully.

"Sorry, I really got it jammed in there." Cleo said, and brought her leg up to the wall.

Then, she pulled, simultaneously kicking herself clear across the room and tumbling into a swinging door.

Katsuki and Aizawa ran into the other room, hearing gunshots behind them.

Katsuki grit his teeth and kept pressure on his wound with the other hand.

2.

Monday, 9:00 PM

Given what happened at the hospital, Cleo and Katsuki got treatment at their school.

As they sat in the infirmary, bandaged and cleaned, their classmates came in to check on them and see what happened.

Even though her mom was a villain, they seemed genuinely concerned about Cleo. Even Tenya was overly apologetic.

"That's insane! And to think, that wouldn't have happened if Bakugou didn't try to kill you this morning." Hanta exclaimed.

"I got shot, fuck off!" Bakugou yelled at him.

"Katsuki got shot protecting me. Apparently he can act like a hero sometimes." Cleo said with a grin.

"If you hadn't gotten your wing lodged into the dumb wall, I wouldn't have had to!" Katsuki yelled at her.

"You took a bullet for Cleo, Ka-chan? That's so brave!" Izuku yelled, and a slight blush tinted Katsuki's cheeks.

"Are you sure it wasn't an accident?" Hanta asked.

"Yep!" Cleo replied cheerily.

"He seems more like the person that would shoot everyone, not protect someone from them." Eijirou commented bitterly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Katsuki glared.

"You're better at hurting people than saving them." Eijirou replied.

"Everyone out, they need to rest." The nurse suddenly announced, and started to usher everyone out.

"Get better, Cleo!" Sue and the others cheered happily.

Katsuki glared at them.

"Get better, Ka-chan!" Izuku cheered, and Katsuki sent him a glare, which he missed on his way out.

Once they were gone, the nurse turned to him with a glare. "You two are staying the night here. I'll be in the next room, and if I hear any ruckus, I'll put you in your place and tell Aizawa. That poor girl has been through enough without you further tormenting her."

Katsuki glared back, and flinched when he accidentally moved his arm.

"If you need anything, Cleo, I'll be right next door. If Bakugou tries anything just call out." The nurse instructed.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, but thank you." Cleo said in a sweet voice.

"Good night you two. Sleep well, Cleo." The nurse said in a sweet voice, and added a warning glare in Katsuki's direction.

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and realized that Cleo was smiling and waving.

The lights went out, and the nurse closed the door, going to the next room.

He was tempted to say something to Cleo, to insult her or something, but he didn't feel like dealing with the nurse.

He got his phone back out and checked the news. He wanted to find out what people were saying about them.

As he perused the articles, he didn't find any mention of his name, just general information. "14 year old shot", 5 adults shot and recovery, multiple casualties-

He couldn't see her very well as she jumped on his bed and knelt next to him. Her hands were together on her lap, a manic grin tugged at her lips, and her hair dropped onto his phone.

"She's going to blame me for you being here." Katsuki whispered.

The only reason why his detention was reduced from the earlier fights was because he got shot. If the nurse saw Cleo on his bed, she'd assume the worst and get him more detention.

Katsuki was already on thin ice because of his fight with Deku.

"Then we'll just have to be quiet. I wanted to thank you for earlier. Thank you for saving my life." Cleo said with a smile, and then kissed his nose.

His cheeks heated up, and he didn't know how to respond.

Then, she clamped her hand over his mouth, and hit his injured shoulder.

He grit his teeth in pain and did his best to not make a sound.

"That was for almost killing Eijirou you piece of shit. He wouldn't have survived that and if Denki's shock had knocked me out, I couldn't have push him out of the way in time." Cleo whispered in his ear.

He barely refrained from biting her bandaged hand.

If he hurt her, he would get in more trouble, which he couldn't afford.

He grabbed her ass, and before she could make a sound, shoved his face at her. Her hand was still over his, and he smirked at the shocked expression on her face.

He kept her still, and tightened his grip.

For a moment they were still, and slowly, Cleo's shocked expression turned to anger.

She leaned into his hand, pulling her face and hand away.

His shoulder still hurt.

He squeezed.

"What made you pissed off in the first place? You're not usually so careless." Cleo whispered.

"None of your business." Katsuki whispered back.

"Why not?" Cleo asked.

He squeezed again, which made her squirm.

"Tell me or I'll call for the nurse. Finding you like this might get you expelled." Cleo whispered, and he froze.

"You wouldn't." Katsuki replied.

"You're right. But I do want to help, and knowing you, instead of talking or dealing with your problems in a healthy way, you're going to lash out and either get killed or expelled. So, either talk now, or end up expelled." Cleo reasoned.

He glared, and squeezed again, enjoying watching her squirm. This time, she held back, but the movement was there.

He squeezed again, entertained, and grinned up at her.

She reached up and applied pressure to his shoulder.

He grit his teeth.

_I deserved that._

"Please tell me what happened this morning?" Cleo whispered.

He glared, his shoulder still throbbing, and he thought back to that morning's conversation.

"I'm not going to judge, and I'm good at keeping secrets." Cleo added.

… she was good at being discreet.

"... our moms were gay for each other. My parents are getting divorced and my dad is gay with some guy." He spoke in a low voice, and looked away.

She shifted suddenly, jolting, and he realized that he accidentally squeezed her again.

Gently, she removed his hand, and held it, holding his appendage against her upper chest.

She was warm.

"I'm sorry, Katsuki. That's a lot to handle. No wonder you were so upset." Cleo whispered.

"I don't need your sympathy." He snapped, and tried to pull his hand away, but she kept it against her chest.

She was so warm.

"Is my mom the reason why your parents are splitting up?" Cleo asked.

"They're splitting up because they're gross homos." Katsuki replied.

"Seeing your parents split up must be hard to watch." Cleo commented, and then he paused.

… when he heard about his parents being gay, he wanted to murder people.

… Cleo learned her mom was gay, and she's comforting him.

"Why are you not freaking out?" Katsuki asked.

"Why would I?" Cleo asked.

"Your mom is gay, a villain, your wings were turned to stumps, you were shot at… you always seem calm." Katsuki commented.

"Meditation and reflection. I analyze myself to figure out what's wrong, what I'm feeling, and why. Sometimes I exercise, too." Cleo answered.

Katsuki contemplated her words, and his own method of dealing with things.

… he almost got Eijirou and Cleo killed yesterday.

She leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

"I really do appreciate what you did to protect me, though. Thank you." Cleo whispered.

A weird sense of relief and other weird feelings filled him at her words.

… Katsuki saved someone.

He saved someone.

Cleo soon went back to her bed, but he kept thinking about their conversation.

3.

Tuesday, 8:40 AM

The next morning, Cleo and Katsuki were able to attend class.

Cleo was surprised to see Katsuki grab Eijirou's sleeve and drag him outside as soon as they arrived.

Ochaco and Toru immediately greeted Cleo and walked over to the back of the room, joining her around her desk.

"What's going on with you and Bakugou?" Toru asked.

Of course, her thoughts went to last night, when he grabbed her butt.

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked as her cheeks heated up.

"You're blushing!" Toru whispered.

Mina and Sue entered the room, noticed them, and immediately came over.

"What happened? Did you two do anything in the infirmary last night?" Toru asked.

"No! We just talked!" Cleo replied hastily.

"Just talked?" Mina asked with a grin.

"You're blushing! Something did happen!" Toru insisted.

"Nothing happened!" Cleo insisted.

4.

Tuesday, 8:40 AM

Katsuki grunted as he pulled Eijirou outside, and then a little ways from the door, out of foot traffic.

"What the hell is your problem, Bakugou?" Eijirou asked, and finally pulled his arm back.

Katsuki glared, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"You weren't my target yesterday. I knew that Cleo would push you out of the way in time." Katsuki said.

"My mom showed me the video she took of the fight. You nearly killed Cleo. Her body was covered in burns you piece of shit." Eijirou snapped.

"She was supposed to use her quirk. That shouldn't have burned her, just weakened her." Katsuki explained.

"Right, the new quirk of hers that she hasn't used in 10 years under threat of her child trafficking, organ stealing mother? You figured that she had mastered that quirk in one week?" Eijirou asked.

"... Cleo understands." Katsuki said.

"Well I'm not Cleo. I'm not like Deku, either. I'm not going to smile and act like what you did yesterday was okay, when it's not. You're seriously messed up in the head, and when you lose it and join the League of Villains, no one will be surprised. You're just one bad day from killing someone, Bakugou." Eijirou said, and stormed back into the classroom.

Katsuki didn't outwardly react, but he did feel a surge of guilt in his chest.

… he was used to people caving under his demands. He probably hurt Cleo and Deku more than anyone else, and they adored him.

Katsuki stood outside for a few extra minutes, pondering the situation, and then went back inside.

To his surprise, the entire class was around Cleo's desk, smiling and laughing with her.

Eijirou was with them, and when Katsuki and Eijirou locked eyes, Eijirou glared.

5.

Tuesday, 10:00 PM

That night, when Cleo went to her usual late night shift, she was surprised to find so many of her classmates there.

Tenya, Eijirou, Ochaco, Izuku, and a few others were grouped together in one corner of the room. They were loud, excited, and rambunctious.

When she walked in, they all cheered and waved excitedly.

_Yesterday's match must have really scared them. They've never been this friendly to me._ Cleo thought awkwardly, and smiled in turn.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cleo asked.

"We want to work out!" Eijirou announced happily.

"Have any of you been shown how to use the equipment properly?" Cleo asked.

"I have, and I am disseminating the information to the rest if my classmates!" Tenya announced readily.

6.

Wednesday, 8:40 AM

The next morning, as Cleo was about to leave the dorms to get to class, she was surprised to see Eijirou by the door.

"Morning!" Eijirou said happily.

"Morning." Cleo said with a smile.

"How did you sleep?" Eijirou asked, and held the door open for her as they went outside.

"I slept alright, I had a few nightmares, though. Were you waiting for me?" Cleo asked.

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you for saving me the other day. Bakugou could have killed me with that attack." Eijirou said.

"He was trying to hit me, not you. I'm sorry that you almost got caught up in the attack." Cleo said.

"You shouldn't defend him. What he did was wrong, and I don't know why you and Deku won't see him for what he is." Eijirou admitted.

"And what is that?" Cleo asked.

"A villain. He's one bad day from turning around and following through on his threat to kill everyone." Eijirou said.

"I've seen real villains, Eijirou. He's not one of them. He just heard some really bad news before our fight yesterday, and it clouded his judgment." Cleo said.

"So he's just one bad day from accidentally hurting someone." Eijirou said.

… she didn't have a good response for that.

"In Bakugou's defense, he doesn't actually want to kill people, he just wants to win." Cleo said.

"By using lethal measures."

7.

Wednesday, 8:50 AM

When Cleo and Eijirou walked in, Katsuki glared from his seat.

His arm was still in a sling, and Cleo in her bandages. Cleo and Eijirou laughed at something as they walked over to her seat.

"Your little sister sounds like a handful, Eijirou." Cleo laughed.

That wasn't her fake laugh, either.

Eijirou stood right next to Katsuki, getting in his space, and Katsuki sent him a glare.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, Bakugou. Your mom munch on any good rugs lately?" Eijirou asked with a smirk.

Horror and dread filled him, and he turned to Cleo, who looked shocked and alarmed.

"You told him?" Katsuki snapped.

"No, I-"

"What? Was it revenge for me grabbing your ass in the infirmary? I should have let that asshole shoot you." Katsuki snapped, and as soon as those words left his lips, he regretted them.

Cleo's cheeks turned pink, her eyes wide, and those brown orbs started to water.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Eijirou shouted.

"I'm going to the infirmary, tell Aizawa I'll be back." Cleo said as she quickly ran off, leaving her books behind.

The entire class looked at him like he was disgusting trash.

"I'm going to check on her." Mina announced and left, going past the teacher on her way out.

Aizawa looked around the room, his tired gaze quickly landing on Katsuki.

There was a collective silence, which chilled him to the bone.

… even for him, that was bad.

_But she told Eijirou about my parents._

"Bakugou, let's talk outside." Aizawa said.

Eijirou glared at Katsuki as he stood.

Katsuki did his best to act indifferent to the stares he received.

Once they were outside, Aizawa closed the door behind him.

"I'm guessing that you've seen the article." Aizawa commented.

"What article?" Katsuki asked.

Aizawa pulled out his phone, and after a few seconds, showed him a page. Katsuki took the device and looked closer.

"_Gay lovers, one of them has a dark secret, the other married. Both of them have children in the same hero class at UA."_

Katsuki froze in place.

… everyone knew.

… and he just announced to the class that he grabbed Cleo's butt and wished she had been shot to death.

"I'm not sure how this was leaked, but I suspect that the next few weeks will be hard for you. I recommend that you ignore this as much as you can." Aizawa suggested.

He kept reading the article.

… there was a lot of details.

Aizawa took his phone back.

"My arm hurts. Can I go to the infirmary?" Katsuki asked.

"Sure." Aizawa nodded.

8.

Wednesday, 9:10 AM

He passed by Mina in the hallway.

She sent him a scathing glare.

He ignored her.

When he got to the infirmary, Cleo was just about to leave.

Their eyes met.

She put up that usual front.

She was upset.

"What do you want?" The nurse glared.

"... another pain killer. My shoulder hurts a little." Katsuki covered.

"No. Go back to class." She snapped.

Katsuki turned and quickly caught up to Cleo. Her head was down, hands in her pockets, and she avoided his gaze.

"I'm sorry." Katsuki blurted.

"Fuck off. That's what you tell everyone, right?" She asked, stopping to glare at him. "Maybe you should take your own advice."

"Someone wrote an article about our moms being gay." Katsuki told her, and she froze. "It's pretty bad."

She blinked at him, a myriad of emotions flashing in those eyes, and he waited for her to speak again.

"Fuck, me." She cursed softly and turned away. "Shit. Shit."

_Maybe she'll forget what I said in class._

"I'm so tired of this." Cleo whispered.

"... we should get to class." Katsuki said after a moment.

"I'm going to go throw up in the bathroom. You go ahead." Cleo said as she walked, not looking at him.

He frowned as she walked away.

He really wished that hadn't snapped at her that morning.

"Are you okay?" Katsuki asked.

"Fuck off." She snapped, and he flinched at her words.

9.

Wednesday, 12:10 PM

At lunch, Katsuki watched as Cleo was dragged off to have lunch with the others at the cafeteria.

Everyone was still pissed at him.

10.

Wednesday, 1:00 PM

Cleo and Katsuki weren't allowed to join their classmates for gym class.

They sat on the sidelines, instructed to take notes and watch their fellow students do the movements that Kayama demonstrated. She was their teacher that day.

Eijirou kept sending glares at Katsuki and friendly smiles to Cleo.

"Are you and Eijirou a thing now?" Katsuki asked Cleo.

"No. He's just a little protective of me." Cleo answered.

There was an awkward pause.

"... are you free after school?" Katsuki asked.

"Why?" Cleo asked.

"I could get some food and we can work on the costume design. Since you can't leave campus, I'll bring food to you." Katsuki said.

"Trying to make up for telling the entire class that you grabbed my butt?" She asked.

He frowned.

"Or for wishing I'd been shot to death?" Cleo asked.

"I thought you had told people about what I told you in confidence." Katsuki explained.

"That doesn't excuse what you did. You should have asked to talk to me in private if you were concerned that I had told on you." Cleo told him.

"... now I know." Katsuki said lamely.

She didn't respond.

"... at least everyone is being nice to you, now." Katsuki added.

"Because you beat the shit out of me in front of their parents, nearly killing Eijirou, and then announced that you sexually assaulted me before saying you wished I was dead. I would prefer they ignore me rather than pity me. You've put me in a really shitty situation, Katsuki." Cleo told him in a low voice.

He was fucking up all over the place, apparently. All of Japan was facing backlash from his fuck up with the villains, All Might lost his power, and now, Cleo was mad at him.

The guilt weighed heavily on him.

Instinctually, he felt the urge to beat up Deku, but then he thought about his conversation with Eijirou.

Everyone thought he was a villain.

… did Cleo think that, too?

"They all showed up at the gym last night during my shift and walked me home. I appreciate that they're trying to show they care, but they're so fucking exhausting. They want to study and do homework with me after class." Cleo said, and he blinked at her in surprise.

… she was annoyed at them?

"If you don't want to, why don't you tell them?" Katsuki asked.

"Because spending time with them will make them feel better, and my life will be easier if they like me." Cleo answered.

"... if you had the choice between spending time with me or them, who would you choose?" Katsuki asked.

"You. I don't have to act around you." Cleo answered, and he smirked triumphantly.

Then, she punched his injured arm, and he cried out in pain, getting the attention of their classmates.

"That doesn't mean you're not a piece of shit for this morning." Cleo added.

11.

Wednesday, 4:00 PM

His classmates sat on the couches, surrounding Cleo, and studying with her. They joked with each other, smiled and laughed, and Katsuki wondered if any of them realized how tired and miserable she was.

He sat across the room, with his laptop, and passively watching them in the corner of his eye.

His stomach grumbled angrily at him.

He thought back to what she said earlier, about only spending time with them to make them easier to handle.

12.

Wednesday, 4:30 PM

Cleo kept her smile as they did the homework together.

She would rather do this during work later, but knowing them, they would show up and be obnoxious again, not letting her study.

They were all terrible.

They almost broke the equipment multiple times and chased off the usual weight lifters.

"What do you want?" Eijirou suddenly seethed, getting her attention.

Katsuki was approaching the back of the couch, carrying a large bag of something that smelled delicious.

Instead of saying anything, Katsuki locked eyes with Cleo, and gestured to the dining area.

"What kind of food did you get?" Cleo asked.

She'd puked up her breakfast and lunch.

"Teriyaki chicken and broccoli." Katsuki replied, and her mouth watered.

That was her favorite dish.

"Leave her alone Bakugou. You've done enough." Eijirou said as he narrowed his eyes.

Cleo closed her book and used her wings to lift her body over the back of the couch.

"Are you seriously going with him?" Eijirou asked.

"Free food is free food." Cleo said.

"Oi, it's not free. Remember our deal." Katsuki snapped irritably.

"Yeah, yeah." Cleo replied, and followed him to one of the tables away from their classmates.

"What the fuck is in your hair?" He asked.

"Toru and Mina got me beads and tiny bowties." Cleo shrugged as she sat. She didn't waste time in digging in.

"It looks like shit." Katsuki replied.

"So we're matching." Cleo replied, and he glared at her.

"Are you saying that my hair looks like shit or I look like shit?" Katsuki asked.

"Your hair." She said, and having finally gotten her container open, dug into the food.

She didn't realize how hungry she was until then.

"Do you ever keep down anything you eat?" Katsuki asked, and she glanced up at him.

… right, she actually told him about that.

"Depends on how stressed I am." Cleo said between bites of the heavenly food.

"Mind if we eat with you guys?" Eijirou asked as he sat near them, and multiple others joined them.

"Scram! We have shit to do." Katsuki barked.

"You want some yogurt, Cleo? I have an extra one." Mina asked, and just like that, they couldn't talk anymore.

13.

Wednesday, 10:30 PM

That night, during her work shift, it was strangely absent of life.

Even the regulars were gone.

Cleo was able to relax at the desk, lifting weights with her wings, and passively watch videos on her phone.

One of the trending videos for that day caught her attention.

5 million views.

It had Katsuki's face on it.

She clicked on it.

It showed a news anchor woman, dressed in a formal green outfit. "A strange and lethal day for UA students Cleo Bacchus and Katsuki Bakugou. We finally got more information on what happened on Monday regarding the shooting at the hospital.

"It was an interesting day for the two UA students. Cleo Bacchus is the daughter of Hoshi Bacchus, and Katsuki Bakugou is the son of Hoshi's gay lover. Evidently these two students didn't start the day as friends.

"Their class had a presentation, where they would do choreographed fights for their friends and family. Like a hero recital." Cleo grunted. "They were instructed to hold back their quirks, to not risk injury to their friends and family. Lets just say that Bakugou went off script. We have a clip of the fight."

The video started at the beginning of the fight, when Aizawa announced for them to start.

_My costume looks good, at least._

Katsuki immediately charged at her, and it was hard to keep up with their movements.

As they fought, Eijirou watched, but Denki tossed his metal disk.

When she landed, and the electricity went off, Eijirou dropped.

Katsuki got ready to launch his attack, and at once, their entire class screamed at him to stop.

As Cleo pushed Eijirou out of the way, she didn't realize just how close it had been. It was a matter of seconds. In the video it all seemed so fast.

She anchored down, and Katsuki's attack caused the entire platform to erupt into fire.

The camera view shifted to an aerial view as the adults and students were protected by Cementoss' cement.

The tunnel went all the way to the other side of the arena and fanned out.

The shock wave sent Denki falling off.

For several seconds, the fire went on, and slowly petered out.

Katsuki reached for his other arm, readying himself to launch another ridiculous attack.

Cleo's small body was smoking, and had moved back.

She was enveloped in fire again.

_No wonder people are so freaked out. That looks terrifying._

Once the attack was done, she looked for her small black form, but was surprised to see her already knocking Katsuki down and breaking his gear.

Even from there, Cleo's burns looked bad, and she was still smoking.

But she did look hella bad ass knocking Katsuki down after taking on his most powerful attack, twice, head on.

They cut just before she puked, too.

"Wow." The anchorman next to the anchorwoman said.

"I get scared watching it everytime. She got severe burns all over body and was sent to the local hospital to receive treatment. Most heroes wouldn't survive an attack like that." She said.

"Isn't that the same guy that won the UA tournament?" He asked, and they had a picture of Katsuki angrily screaming with the medal in his mouth and awkward All Might in front of him.

"It is, and he's been in the news a lot recently for fighting villains and being kidnapped by them."

"After seeing this fight, I'm sure most villains will think twice before attacking him. If he's willing to do this to a classmate, I can't imagine what he'd do against a villain! I remember there being a lot of speculation about whether he's going to be a villain or hero when he's an adult. He's a scary kid."

"Well hold on, we may have ended the debate with this next clip. After injuring Bacchus, he and his teacher went with her to the hospital. We finally got footage."

They played video from a security camera of what happened.

At first, it was hard to make sense of what was happened, but she soon oriented herself.

Seeing her stabbing someone was mildly terrifying and surreal.

She seemed so… cold.

And then, Katsuki jumped on her, shielding her with his body. Judging by the angle, if he hadn't done that, the bullet would have been a head shot.

And then, even with a gun pointed at his face, he didn't want to leave her.

She smiled.

He wasn't completely terrible.

They went through and explained the scene to the audience.

"He took a bullet for her. Teenage hormones are amazing." The anchorman said, and Cleo's cheeks heated up.

"Do you think he only did that because he wants to ask her out?"

"I can't think of a better way to do it. How can she say no, now?"

"Well, I think it's cute. He risked his life for her and saved her life."

"Which has already made you forget the fact that he tried to kill her that morning. She was only there because of him. Their parents both have ties to powerful villains, who's to say that Katsuki didn't set it up?"

"Let's move on-"

The clip ended.

… _at least I look awesome in that video._ She thought sourly.

She looked up as someone entered, and smiled at Mirio.

"Lose your lifting partner again?" Cleo asked.

"Nope, just found her." He replied with a smile.

14.

Wednesday, 12:00 AM

Mirio walked her home again.

When she walked inside, she was surprised to find Katsuki on one of the couches, asleep.

She smiled fondly, and then nudged his leg with her foot.

They were the only ones there. Everyone else had gone to bed.

He jolted awake, and when he saw her, relaxed.

"Have you seen the video?" Cleo asked.

"What video?" Katsuki asked.

"The one about us. When you took a bullet for me." Cleo said with an unabashed smile.

He grunted with a glare.

"The trending video is annoying, but the part where you save my life is cool. You look like a dick for the other parts." Cleo said, and sat down next to him.

"Nothing new." He replied, blinking away the sleepiness in his eyes.

"Give me your phone." Cleo told him.

"What?"

"Your phone. Give it." Cleo told him, and noticed it buzz from his pocket.

She pulled it out for him, and put her phone number in. Then, she sent herself a text, so that she had his number.

When she looked up, he was blushing, and he turned away suddenly.

"What?" Cleo asked.

He didn't reply.

"Now, instead of falling asleep on the couch waiting for me, we can text each other if we want to meet up. Since I'm the only girl on my floor, we could even hang out at my room instead of here." Cleo said, and his face became even more red.

She put his phone on his bushy blond hair, and watched as it slowly started to fall to the side. She caught it before it collided with his injured shoulder.

His cheeks were so red.

"What?" Cleo asked.

"Nothing." Katsuki muttered.

"Are you blushing?" She asked.

He didn't reply, trying to not look at her.

As his head kept turning away, she leaned over him, trying to see those rosy red cheeks.

"Your pink cheeks and bushy blond hair is a cute combo." Cleo commented, and grinned victoriously when he glared at her, letting her see him better.

_He's cute when he blushes like this._ She thought happily.

"Stop staring at me, freak." He spat.

"Stop being so cute." Cleo said, and internally cursed, then added. "You kind of look like a pouting toddler."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

_He's cutest when he's asleep, though._

She leaned back, giving him space, and went back to sitting normally. "Do you want to talk about your costume now?"

"... yes." Katsuki replied.

15.

Thursday, 10:00 AM

The next morning in class, All Might gave a presentation about some of the most notorious criminals that have escaped authorities over the years. He talked about their quirks, known psychology of them, and any other relevant information.

When they got to one of the criminals, she tilted her head to the side.

… she knew him.

She loved interacting with him when she was a kid.

He was a big guy with a bald head and green shirt. In the picture, he was lifting a car over his head and looked particularly menacing. His quirk was manipulating tar.

"You look confused, Cleo. Do you have a question?" All Might asked.

"He looks like Big Ben." Cleo commented.

"... who is Big Ben?" All Might asked.

"One of my mom's friends. He was super nice and friendly when he visited. He'd always bring some kind of small gift, candy, and teach me a new martial arts move so that I'd be a good hero someday. He was super nice." Cleo explained, and then recalled that Katsuki met him once. "Katsuki, you met him. He's the one that scared you when you ripped the heads off of my dolls."

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder, then to the screen, and grunted.

"That guy." He muttered. "Yeah, that's him."

"You met him?" Izuku asked.

"Yeah. He visited my mom a lot when I was little. He was my favorite out of her friends. The other ones usually yelled a lot or were creepy. Katsuki's mom included." Cleo said.

"Oi." Katsuki said with a glare.

"We'll talk to the detective after class to let him know. In the meantime, we'll go over what we know about him. He's a mercenary that does odd jobs, and is usually the muscle for a group. He'll poor hot tar over anyone that gets in his way. He doesn't usually kill people, but the hot tar will sometimes scar people permanently. It's extremely painful. He's also partnered with a variety of high profile villains over the years…."

16.

Thursday, 12:00 PM

When lunch rolled around, the girls of the class decided to eat outside.

Cleo went along, doing her usual smile and casual banter. They grabbed a blanket from the dorms and ate on the edge of a field, where other people were playing soccer together. Some others ate along the edge as well, chatting with each other or cheering on the people playing.

"So Bakugou grabbed your butt, huh?" Mina asked her, and Cleo coughed on the water she was drinking.

"I-I'd rather not talk about it." Cleo stuttered.

"Tell us what happened! Did you want him to touch your butt?"

"No! It's not like that!" Cleo replied, and the other girls snickered and giggled. "I just… I hit his shoulder, the one he had just been shot with, because he almost killed Eijirou. He only had one hand and he was pissed off, so he grabbed me. He only did it to annoy me, and it kind of hurt. I had bruises afterwards." Cleo explained, and added a small pout.

"That sounds like something Bakugou would do." Sue commented.

"I'll bet he's wanted to grab your butt for a while. Do you like his butt?" Mina asked with a weird smile.

"What is it with you and butts?" Ochaco asked her, blushing heavily.

"What? Katsuki has a cute butt! So does Mezo!" Mina defended.

"I'll bet that Ochaco likes Deku's butt." Kyoka said with a smirk, and instantly, Ochaco turned red and started waving her hands frantically.

Cleo had never thought about Katsuki's butt before.

… he worked out a lot, so it makes sense he would have a nice one.

… he had touched hers… it would be only fair if….

"Cleo!" Mina suddenly said excitedly. "How far have you gotten with a boy?"

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked.

"Have you kissed one?"

"Not on the lips." Cleo replied.

"Where else have you kissed?" Mina asked.

"Where have you kissed?" Cleo countered.

"The cheek." Mina answered.

"Nose." Cleo answered, and then asked, "Do you like anyone?"

"Well-" Mina spoke, and started to animatedly evaluate every male member of their class. She went over their personalities, physical characteristics, grades, and other random things. Sometimes the other girls would add in silly details and giggles.

When they went back to the classroom, she accidentally looked Katsuki's direction, and giggled.

"What?" Katsuki asked.

"Nothing." Cleo replied.

Momo giggled, too.

Katsuki sent a glare her way, and she immediately tried to act busy with her notebook.

"Do you want to do dinner tonight? To go over costume details?" Cleo asked him.

"I can't. I'm doing dinner with my dad. Apparently I'm meeting his dumb boyfriend." Katsuki said bitterly.

"That sounds cool. How long have they been together?" Cleo asked.

"As if I fucking care." Katsuki stated as he turned back around.

17.

Thursday, 10:30 PM

That night, as Cleo worked, she was surprised to see Katsuki walk in.

He seemed agitated.

"How did the dinner go?" Cleo asked.

"Fuck off." Katsuki snapped.

The two people lifting weights together sent him a glare.

"What happened?" Cleo asked as he walked over to her. He leaned against the desk, next to her propped feet, and growled at her. "That bad?"

"My dad is a fucking homo. Instead of fucking men, he should be working on his marriage with my mom. She's devastated. She's been leaving me voice mails." Katsuki spoke in a low voice.

"What kind of voice mails?"

"Drunk, shitty ones. My dad is being an ass."

"I'm so sorry, Katsuki. That sounds hard."

"If it wasn't for your mom, my parents wouldn't be getting divorced."

"But they'd still be gay."

He grunted and glared at the floor.

"At least it sounds like your dad is making an effort. Mine just…" Cleo trailed off.

"I'd prefer my dad be dead than gay."

"I'd trade dads with you any day."

Behind Katsuki, she heard the lifters leave, making her and Katsuki the only ones in the room.

"His boyfriend is such a tool. He has a landscaping business. He works with flowers and shit." Katsuki said after a moment.

"Flowers are cool."

"Flowers are dumb."

"So I guess there's no hope for you getting a deal through him to get flowers for me?" Cleo asked.

"Why the fuck would I get you flowers?"

"Because I'm cute and you like me."

"As if, Stumpy." Katsuki grumbled with a slight blush on his cheeks.

18.

Friday, 8:30 AM

The next morning, Cleo was surprised to not see Eijirou waiting for her. _He must have gotten bored playing bodyguard._

She walked down the path, an ear bud in her ear, and paused when she saw a human carrying a giant bouquet of flowers, all of which were beautiful shades of pink and purple. The flowers were so big that she couldn't see their face.

Next to them, however, she did recognize their face.

Katsuki's dad.

Growing up, she always saw him looking anxious, sad, or tired. Now, he looked happy, joyful, and was even laughing.

"Mr. Bakugou?" Cleo spoke when she was close enough.

"Cleo?" He replied with a warm smile.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile before! I barely recognize you." Cleo said with a smile.

He blushed, looking remarkably like his son in that moment.

"Are you going to class?" He asked.

"Yeah! What's all the flowers for?" Cleo asked.

"Kori and I are bringing them over to your dorm for the common area."

"Is that Kori behind there?" Cleo asked as she tried to peer around the beautiful bushel.

"It is!" Kori exclaimed.

"Eh? Did Katsuki tell you about our dinner last night?" Mr. Bakugou asked.

"Yeah. Did he tell you about the drunk voice mails that his mom has been leaving him?"

His expression fell.

"No, I had no idea." He replied.

"You didn't hear it from me." Cleo told him.

"Wait, aren't you the girl Katsuki fought the other day?" Kori asked, shifting to look at her.

"Yeah."

Mr. Bakugou immediately bowed to her.

"I'm so sorry for what my son did. I'm so sorry. Please forgive him. He only lashed out because of what I told him before the fight. I'm so sorry." Mr. Bakugou apologized.

"It's fine, really. He saved my life at the end of the day, so it balanced out." Cleo said with a smile.

"You wouldn't have been at the hospital if it wasn't for my son. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, really. Katsuki's a nice guy." Cleo told him.

"'Nice'?" Both men said in surprise.

"Well, maybe not nice exactly, but caring. He means well even if he doesn't express it in the most practical ways." Cleo said.

"Would you like to come over for dinner sometime? We would love to have you and Katsuki over sometime." Kori invited.

"I can't leave campus without my teachers' permission. Since I've been working with law enforcement regarding my mom, they don't like me leaving campus." Cleo explained.

"We can talk to your teachers." Kori said.

"Alright. If you get everything cleared, then sure. I need to get to class, and it was nice seeing you, Mr. Bakugou. It was nice meeting you, Kori." Cleo said politely.

"Same to you, Cleo. Have a nice day." Kori said with a smile, and Mr. Bakugou waved as she walked around them.

She overheard Kori say, "How did your son get such a cute and sweet friend?"

"He doesn't deserve her." Mr. Bakugou replied.

When she got to the classroom, with a few minutes to spare, she put her bag by her desk and then stood next to Katsuki's, causing his cranky red eyes to lock with hers.

"What are you smiling about?" He grumbled.

"I just met your dad's boyfriend. I've never seen your dad so happy before." Cleo said.

"Why the hell were you talking to them?" Katsuki snapped.

"I walked into them on the way here. Kori was bringing flowers to display in the commons of our dorm." Cleo explained.

He grunted and angrily glared at his desk.

"Your dad seems happy and he's making an effort. Try to keep an open mind." Cleo told him.

He grunted again.

"Hey Bakugou, we saw your dad and his boyfriend on the way here. Are you a faggot too?" Eijirou asked.

"That's uncalled for, Eijirou. What the hell do you have against gay people?" Cleo snapped at him, and the entertained smirk fell from his lips.

"Gay people are gross. They're pedophiles." Eijirou replied uneasily.

"That's a stereotype, jack ass. If you're going to insult someone, don't go after their sexual orientation. That's just rude and homophobic, and that says more about you than the person you're insulting." Cleo told him with a glare.

"... are you gay, or something?" Eijirou asked awkwardly.

"My best friend in elementary school had gay parents, and they were the sweetest people I've ever met. I don't put up with homophobic bullshit." Cleo told him.

"Everyone sit down, so that we can start class." Aizawa told them.

Cleo went to her usual seat, and got a lot of strange looks from her classmates.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** The final two chapters! Ah! (There's one more chapter after this, but it's pretty short, which is why I updated it today)

Cleo was so much fun to write, and I loved drawing her. I don't know if I mentioned this in the past, but the profile image for this story is one that I made. It's pretty rare that I get motivated to do digital painting lately, so it was pretty fun. :3

My confidence has been pretty down lately, and it's been chaotic over the last few months. I do have two other Katsukixoc stories that I might post today. Both of them are pretty dark and touch on heavy topics, buuuuut they're also super long and fun. So, if you like long fics (one of them is over 200,000 words, I think), keep an eye out for the update. ;)

Thank you everyone for reading this story, and all the follows, reviews, and faves! Have a fantastic day!

* * *

**Cleo 8**

_A Gay Old Time_

Friday, 12:15 PM

At lunch, the girls quickly left without Cleo. Most of the people left for lunch, leaving just Cleo and Katsuki.

As she munched on her food, she showed him some of her preliminary sketches for his costume.

"I've just been doodling ideas. I know they look like crap now, but the final will be cleaner, like the other costumes you saw. Do any stand out to you?" Cleo asked.

He seemed angry as he looked through them.

She was a little worried that he might rip the pages.

"Katsuki?"

"Hn." He grunted.

"Are you still mad about me talking to your dad this morning?" Cleo asked.

"I didn't need you to protect me this morning." He grumbled.

"This is about Eijirou?" Cleo asked.

He grunted again.

"I wasn't defending you, I was defending your dad. I know you're capable of defending yourself."

"I'm not gay." Katsuki said.

"I know. I would be surprised if a gay guy squeezed my butt so many times." Cleo said, and Katsuki lowered his head, trying to cover his blush with his bushy hair.

"I like this one." Katsuki said, and pointed to one of the designs.

Cleo chuckled. It was one of her more "villain" designs. Very intimidating and dark.

"Alright. So you want to go full dark, living up to your 'Lord Murder Explosion' name." Cleo commented.

"Of course I do." Katsuki replied.

"People are going to keep likening you to a villain." Cleo warned.

"Do you think I'm a villain?" He asked, and looked up at her.

"No. But then again, I have a different definition for a true 'villain' than most people." Cleo said.

"What's that?" Katsuki asked.

"Someone who will destroy everyone in their path to gain what they want. They lie, they manipulate, and they hurt everyone around them. You're not a villain because you have limits. You fight those who are capable, not the weak. If someone told you that all you had to do to become the number one hero was to kill a small child, I don't think you'd do it. Your refusal to take the first place medal for the UA competition proves that." Cleo explained.

"Those are… interesting requirements." Katsuki commented.

"My mom being outted for being a villain made it a lot easier to come up with." Cleo said with a smile.

1.

Friday, 11:45 PM

The weight lifting gym was empty, aside from Cleo and Mirio. As usual, after working out, he offered to help her clean up and walk her home.

After they cleaned up, though, Cleo felt… strange. She was suddenly hyper aware of Mirio's presence. How strong he was, how tall he was, how much bigger he was. He towered over her, not unlike Tominohara.

She took an extra step away from him, and gave her usual smile.

"I think I got everything from here. I can walk home on my own. Thanks, Mirio." Cleo said as her heart raced in her chest.

Dread pulled and tugged at her chest.

She remembered the smell of bourbon on his breath.

"Are you sure? Your dorm is on the way to mine, so it wouldn't be any bother." Mirio asked.

"Yeah." Cleo replied.

She remembered that hand on her lower back.

Her stomach tying into knots.

"Alright, if you're sure. Goodnight, Cleo." He said with a friendly wave, and left.

She watched him walk away.

She remembered how her body wouldn't stop shaking.

His pointy nose trailing along her jaw and cheek.

His fingertips trailing along her side, traveling up to her breast.

Mirio kept walking.

She stepped away from the door, going over to the desk, and gripped her head.

She wanted the memories to stop.

She pulled out her phone, trying to take deep, calming breaths, and realized that her hands were shaking.

She called Katsuki's number and sunk to the floor, tears falling from her eyes.

It felt like those memories were clawing their way through her insides, tearing her apart.

"What?" Katsuki snapped.

"... did I w-wake you?" Cleo asked.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's dumb. I-it's dumb. Can you walk me home from my work? My brain is just… it's hard to think. If you come I'll probably be fine, I just, everything feels so jumbled," Cleo stuttered and shook, kneeling on the floor hunched over with her free arm around her midsection.

"I'll be right there." Katsuki said, and hung up.

Those memories kept surfacing, tearing her apart, and she gripped her head, wishing that it would stop.

She wanted it to end.

She wanted it to stop.

2.

Friday, 11:55 PM

Katsuki yawned as he walked towards the gym building.

Mirio was walking his way, and while Mirio waved with a smile, Katsuki didn't acknowledge him.

"What are you doing up so late? The weight gym just closed." Mirio told him.

"None of your business." Katsuki replied, and kept walking.

The building was lit up, even at the late hour. Most of the campus was heavily lit at night, especially since they created new dorms to house the students.

Katsuki went over to the side of the building, where the weights room door was, and yawned tiredly.

As he opened the heavy door, he froze.

Cleo was on the floor, curled up into a ball, and there was a woman in black standing over her with a knife.

"Oi!" Katsuki yelled, startling them, and rolled his explosive sweat at them, creating a line of damage on the ground.

The woman jumped away and out the open window.

"Get the hell back here!" Katsuki yelled as he ran forward, cursed, and was about to run outside to catch her, but looked down at Cleo on the ground.

"I'll get them!" Someone yelled outside.

_Mirio, probably._

He clenched his fists, wanting to run after them, but instead knelt down by Cleo. "Are you okay?"

"My head feels so fractured. Make it stop. Make it stop." Cleo pleaded softly.

"Are you hurt?" Katsuki asked.

"Make it stop."

She wouldn't say anything else.

She didn't look injured, though.

He put a hesitant hand on her shoulder.

She raised her head, as if just now noticing he was there. Tears streaked down her face. Her lips trembled.

She grabbed at the sides of his shirt, pulling him closer to her, and hid her face in the nook of his neck. Her tears soaked his skin, and she kept trembling as she clung to him as if for dear life.

… he wasn't sure what to do.

Comforting people wasn't exactly his forte.

He put his arms around her, awkwardly, and she fell into him more, arching herself to get as much contact as she could with the weird angle.

After about five minutes or so, Aizawa arrived, and soon after, the other teachers.

Katsuki removed himself from her, and she quickly curled over again with her hands grasping her head.

He walked over to the sidelines to tell them what he knew.

"Cleo, it's going to be okay." Kayama said in a soft voice.

Then, Aizawa pulled her back, just before one of Cleo's massive wings pummeled into the ground. The sharp tip nearly stabbed Kayama, and judging by the impact, it would have been lethal.

The massive wing pulled back, moving like a spider's leg, curling and then rising up high, to spear into the ground again, slicing through the air and sinking into the hard ground.

"Cleo, we're here to help you. You're safe." Aizawa told her.

The stump rose again like before, stamping into the ground with a dull thud.

Katsuki briefly imagined that wing slicing through him like butter.

"We can't help if we don't know what's going on." Kayama said in a soft voice.

"Let us help you, Cleo." All Might added.

This time, both wings rose, and jabbed into the hard ground, anchoring into the concrete.

Her second pair of wings emerged from her back, glistening darkly against the light, and curled awkwardly to cover more of Cleo's back and sides.

"Maybe we should give her some space?" All Might suggested.

"Not until we know what kind of quirk was used on her." Aizawa replied.

"Cleo, what the fuck are you doing?" Katsuki barked at her. Her wings cringed slightly. "Get your shit together."

"Maybe you should wait outside, Bakugou." All Might suggested.

"She didn't try to stab anyone until you guys got here." Katsuki pointed out.

Cleo's wings stabbed into the ground with tremendous force, causing the ground to crack and break.

"Do you know what quirk was used on her?" Aizawa asked.

"No. She said that her head was jumbled, or something. She couldn't think straight." Katsuki replied.

"Hopefully the quirk didn't cause any long term damage. It might be a fear inducing quirk, to make their victims so afraid that they don't fight back." Aizawa theorized.

Cleo hit her head with her palm, abruptly, and smashed her wings into the ground again, breaking up more concrete around her.

"Cleo, if you tell us-" All Might started to say, but one of the stumps rose and slashed in his direction, stabbing into the concrete again.

"Cleo, what's going on in that dumb head of yours?" Katsuki asked her.

"Shut up." Cleo muttered.

"I tell you shit about my life, it's only fair that you tell me shit about your life, too. What are you thinking about right now?" Katsuki asked.

"How annoying everyone is. I'm tired of all this fucking shit." Cleo replied.

"A personality altering quirk, maybe?" All Might whispered to Aizawa.

"Then do what you always do around people you don't like. Put on that stupid front so that they stop bugging you. The sooner you stand up, the sooner you go home." Katsuki told her.

"Every time I try, that stupid fucking memory comes back. I can't get it out of my head!" She screamed in frustration.

"What memory?" Katsuki asked.

She curled in on herself more, her wings folding in for a more defensive stance.

"Fuck that memory. Do you want people to pity you for it?" Katsuki asked.

She turned her head, and he could see one of her eyes glare at him.

"If you don't want pity, then stand the fuck up, you loser." Katsuki told her.

She suddenly sat up, still glaring at him and her hair a wild mess. There was a darkness in her eyes that he recognized.

Suddenly, she lunged at him, punching him in the face and landing on him. He put his arm up, blocking, as she punched again.

Then, she went limp on him.

One of the teachers had knocked her out.

3.

Saturday, 8:00 AM

The next morning, Cleo sat in the principal's office.

All Might on her right. Aizawa on her left.

She tried to act as normal as possible.

"Detective Wako has offered to put you in protective services. Since you've been so cooperative in the investigation into your family's business, he wants to keep you safe in the event of going to trial. If you went with them, you would probably be safer, but you wouldn't be able to become a hero." The principal explained.

"I don't want to leave. I want to stay at this school." Cleo said.

"Staying here won't be as safe, and the other students could get hurt."

"... I can't speak for the other students, but I don't care if it's less safe for me. I'm not training to be a hero for safety, I want to be a hero so that I can use my abilities to help people. I can't do that if I go somewhere else and take on a new identity, which will already be near impossible. The video of Katsuki and I fighting has over five million views." Cleo reasoned.

The teachers looked between each other.

"I'm not scared, and I don't want to run." Cleo added.

"We'll talk this over for a while. We'll let you know by the end of the day. In the meantime, get lots of rest." The principal told her.

"... okay." Cleo said, and stood. She gave them a nod as she left.

After leaving the office, she went to the bathroom, puking up her morning tea.

4.

Saturday, 9:00 AM

She sulked in her room, terrified of the decision her teachers were going to make.

She might have to leave.

Katsuki sat calmly on her bed, reading a book, and ignoring her. He was comfortably sprawled out, with an extra hand behind his head and legs spread out.

_I might never see Katsuki again._

"... Katsuki?" Cleo said meekly.

He paused, likely finishing a paragraph, before looking her way.

His red eyes looked pretty in the soft light.

"Can I kiss you?" She asked.

He blinked at her, that adorable blush tinting his cheeks.

"Wh-why?" He stuttered, and coughed into his hand. He bookmarked his page.

"This might be my last day at UA, and I really like you. It's okay for you to say no, if you don't want to. You've been a good friend and I don't want to ruin that friendship by doing something you're uncomfortable with." Cleo answered.

"... have you kissed anyone before?" Katsuki asked.

"My first kiss was stolen from me. I'd like my second kiss to be with someone I like. What about you?" Cleo asked.

"... no."

"Do you want to kiss me?" Cleo asked.

That blush got pinker.

"... yeah…"

She smiled.

"Then can I kiss you?" Cleo asked.

"... I guess." He muttered awkwardly.

She got up, jumping on the bed, and knelt next to him on all fours. She leaned in, getting closer to those red eyes, and leaned her lips into his.

Sparks flew across her body, a wonderful tingling sensation filling her, and she smiled as she pulled back. His lips were a lot softer than she imagined.

He leaned forward, kissing her again, and this time they lingered a little longer.

"Thank you." Cleo said happily, now sporting a matching blush.

Part of her wanted to continue, to keep doing that, but she didn't want to come across as too forward or needy. For the next step, she wanted Katsuki to initiate it.

He leaned in again, their soft lips meeting, and one of his hands touched her forearm. His fingertips tentatively trailed across her skin, sending delectable goosebumps along her flesh, and she giggled, turning away.

5.

Saturday, 4:00 PM

That afternoon, Cleo stood in front of her principal, Aizawa, All Might, and Detective Wako.

She was leaving UA.

"You've been a fantastic student, Cleo, and I have no doubt that you'll do great at whatever field you end up entering." All Might told her with a smile, but there was sadness in those eyes.

She felt like her heart was being ripped in two.

"We need to get going." Detective Wako said.

"What about my things?" Cleo asked.

"We'll mail them to you." Aizawa said.

"Our decision was not in reflection of your actions, Cleo. We just want you to be safe." The principal added.

Cleo turned, seeing Katsuki over by one of the couches.

One of his hands gripped the back of the couch, but his face stayed blank.

"Can she say goodbye to her classmates?" All Might asked.

"Only if she's brief. I'm on a schedule." Detective Wako said.

Cleo walked over to Katsuki and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

He didn't hug her back, but she did feel him tense. His heart was racing in his chest, and breathing erratic.

When she pulled away to look at him, his gaze was on the ground, and his hand had torn the fabric of the couch.

"Good luck being a hero." Cleo said, and the other words got stuck in her throat.

She gently squeezed his arm before walking away, and was already missing his warm embrace.

5.

Saturday, 5:00 PM

Katsuki lay back on his bed, looking at the ceiling, and let the tears quietly fall.

She was gone.

He would never see her again.

She wasn't even allowed to text anyone.

_How the fuck is she going to finish my costume design now?_

There was no edge or anger in the thought.

Just sadness.

One of his friends in elementary school moved, and he'd been sad about that, but that was nothing compared to this. He felt like someone had ripped his heart from his chest and he was slowly bleeding out.

That kiss had been amazing.

He missed her warmth.

Her touch.

A shrill scream pierced the air, causing him to sit up in alarm.

Something big and loud roared.

He quickly ran out of his room and came face to face with some kind of hideous, big toothed, beast that resembled a bull in shape.

It charged.

He reacted on reflex, throwing his explosions at it, but it didn't work or did little damage. Out of the smoke the creature head butted Katsuki's abdomen and flung him up, smashing him into the ceiling.

Katsuki fell to the floor and quickly jumped back up to his feet, preparing to fight it as his other classmates came out of their rooms.

6.

Saturday, 5:00 PM

They'd been driving for about an hour when the car slowed to a stop.

They were supposed to be taking her to a safe house, but the area didn't look very "safe". The houses looked run down, there was a couple arguing on the doorstep of one house, and there were numerous homeless people in dark corners.

"Is this it?" Cleo asked, and when she turned to look at Detective Wako, saw he was pulling out a gun.

She grew her scales and used one of her wings to break a window as she grabbed the gun and pushed down.

The driver turned, and she instinctively ducked, just as several bone shards shot from his face.

She shifted, putting her arms up to protect her face, and jumped out of the window.

As soon as she got onto her feet, she broke out into a sprint.

She ducked behind cars, and heard the thuds of bone shards hitting metal.

She turned down an alley, and rushed past a random homeless man. As she turned, she heard him yell, only to be abruptly silenced.

She ran for someone's wooden fence, jumping over it, and internally cringed when someone yelled at her.

She started running again, going over another wooden fence, and jumped straight into a bush filled with plastic toys.

One of which lit up and started to make loud siren sounds.

She went back to running, wishing that she had better luck.

Then, she came to a street, and when she looked both ways, she froze with wide eyes.

The driver was just down the street, about to throw the bone shards.

_I'm going to die._

But then, something came up behind him, and clamped down their massive fangs into his neck.

The bone shards flew, most of them missing, but one of them lodged into her right shoulder.

She was about to turn and run, when she realized there was someone behind her.

Those terrifying yellow eyes locked with her brown ones, his frame tall and foreboding. He wore a black trench coat, a checkered scarf around the lower half of his face, and black hat. To anyone else, they probably wouldn't have recognized him.

Cleo took a hesitant step back.

"What do you want me to do with this guy?" Someone asked behind her.

"We'll use him and the other one to send a message to Hoshi." The Demon King said.

"What about your kid?"

"Hoshi wants her dead. Keeping her alive will annoy Hoshi to no end. We'll let her find her way back to UA."

Cleo glanced behind her, at the second person, and saw that he was dragging the corpse of the driver.

"Can I get my phone out of his pocket?" Cleo asked.

"Sure."

After retrieving her phone, she carefully watched them walk away.

They didn't give any other indication of acknowledging her presence.

Once they were out of sight, she called All Might's number.

No answer.

Aizawa.

No answer.

Katsuki.

No answer.

… she met Deku's mom once, and she gave her her number for emergencies. She gave all the girls in her class her number, in case they needed something or someone to call.

7.

Saturday, 5:45 PM

All Might sat on the sidelines, exhausted.

He felt so weak, now.

His students were in danger and suffering, and he could do little more than assist the nurse with injuries and assure the students that they were safe.

All of class 1-B were missing.

Class 1A were attacked the heaviest, and their building was barely standing, now. The students varied in injuries, but they were mostly fine.

Students of all classes received injuries, but no one died.

They moved all the students to the cafeteria. Anyone not injured would help care for the wounded. They treated it like training.

He pulled out his phone out of habit, needing something else to look at, and realized that Cleo had called multiple times.

_Was she attacked, too?_ He wondered in horror.

"Katsuki!" A familiar voice cheered, and looked over just as Cleo jumped on Bakugou, causing them both to fall to the ground. "I'm glad you're okay!"

"Izuku!" Midoria's mother yelled, tears streaming down her face as she pulled him into her arms.

"What happened to you?" Katsuki asked.

Cleo leaned back, sitting on him, to reveal a very bloody right shoulder. Her arm was in a sling.

"I'll tell you later. What happened here?" Cleo asked.

"A bunch of villains attacking. We don't know anything else." Bakugou replied.

"Was anyone killed?" Cleo asked.

"I don't think so."

"Cleo." All Might spoke, getting her attention.

He needed to figure out what happened, and the timing of Cleo's departure was too close to be coincidence.

7.

Saturday, 6:30 PM

After talking to the teachers, Cleo returned to sit next to Katsuki at one of the tables.

Hanta had already teased him for the earlier hug, and had told a few others, pointing at him with shocked expressions out of hearing range.

Most of their class was either helping other people or talking to their families.

He didn't outwardly acknowledge Cleo as she leaned against him. She wasn't as obvious as before, but if anyone paid attention, they would notice the unnecessary proximity.

Even though he didn't express it, he did enjoy the contact.

He _really_ liked the contact. If this place wasn't so crowded and hectic, he'd probably pull her into a broom closet.

"Were you scared at all? When they attacked?" Cleo asked him.

Their faces were so close.

"No." He replied, then added, "You're ten times scarier in a fight, and I'm not scared of you."

That had meant to come out as an insult, but it made her smile instead.

"Katsuki!" His father yelled, and he looked up, seeing his dad and Kori approach him. His father knelt down and hugged him.

Katsuki rolled his eyes.

He was like this the other three times he was attacked, too.

"Are you okay? Everything in tact?" He asked as he looked Katsuki up and down, visibly inspecting him.

"Katsuki is fine, just grumpy. At least he didn't get kidnapped again." Cleo said, and Katsuki sent her a dirty glare. She didn't seem affected in the slightest.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Katsuki. I was so worried when I saw your school in the news."

"I'm fine." Katsuki said with a roll of his eyes.

"What happened to your shoulder, Cleo?" Kori asked.

"A villain threw bone shards at me. I'm just glad it hit my shoulder and not my head." Cleo said with a smile.

"I'm glad that you're both okay. Are you ready to go, Katsuki?" Katsuki's dad asked.

"I guess." Katsuki shrugged indifferently.

"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight, Cleo?" Kori asked her.

"Izuku's mom offered to let me stay the night." Cleo replied.

"You're staying at Deku's house?" Katsuki asked.

"Yeah. His mom gave me her number to call if I was ever in trouble. She's the one that picked me up across town and got me bandaged up. She's really nice." Cleo explained.

"I can give you my number for emergency situations, too." Katsuki's dad said.

Katsuki glared, but said nothing.

_Fucking Deku… my dad… fuck everyone._

"Thanks, Mr. Bakugou. I'll hopefully see you soon, Katsuki." Cleo said, and leaned away from him.

Without thinking, Katsuki leaned forward and kissed her.

He quickly stood and shoved his hands into his pockets, stomping off.

8.

Saturday, 8:30 PM

Cleo was envious of Izuku.

He had such a great mom.

They all sat in their living room, drinking hot chocolate and munching on snacks. Izuku's mom made them a fresh batch of cookies.

"Are you sure that you don't want more to eat, Cleo? I heard you throw up earlier. After what happened, you need to eat in order to keep your strength up." Izuku's mom said, and Cleo blinked in surprise, not expecting such a personal question.

When people did find out about that, they usually didn't say anything.

"I'll be fine, thank you though." Cleo replied.

"But you're so thin- please, eat some more. I have leftovers in the fridge if you'd like something that's not sweet."

"Really, I'll be fine. My stomach is so nervous that I'd probably puke it up anyway." Cleo said awkwardly.

"Do you do that often when you're anxious or upset?"

"Sometimes."

"Is that why you've been looking so thin lately?" Izuku asked.

Cleo shrugged, taking another sip of her drink.

Mrs. Midoria looked at her expectantly.

Cleo took another oatmeal cookie.

"Are you getting enough food at school? Are they feeding you enough?" Izuku's mom asked.

"Yeah. We have a stocked shared kitchen that we have a set amount of money for each month. Most of our food we get ourselves, though. Since my family started being under investigation, I started working at the school gym for food money." Cleo explained.

"Izuku told me about your mother. That must have been so hard for you."

Cleo nodded. "It's good, though. It means that bad people are going to be put into jail for my testimony."

She thought back to the murder she witnessed just hours earlier.

_I touched a corpse._

"I noticed that you and Izuku's friend are close. The blond boy."

Cleo chuckled, a grin spreading across her face.

"Yeah, you could say that. He's caring and thoughtful in his own weird way. He's been taking his parents' situation really hard." Cleo said.

"What about his parents?" Izuku asked.

"They're gay and getting a divorce. His dad moved in with his boyfriend, Kori, and then his mom is a drunken mess right now. That's why he went nuts the other day during the fight. His dad had just told him." Cleo explained.

"Watching you and that boy fight was terrifying." Izuku's mom said with a frown.

"My quirk wasn't working properly, so I sustained more damage than he thought I would. He actually calculated everything out pretty well, just not my quirk messing up." Cleo explained.

"Why didn't your quirk work?" Izuku asked.

She hesitated telling him.

He would definitely use that against her in the future.

But, then again, having someone on her team know that, especially for a planner like him, would be useful.

"I've spent most of my life not using my quirk to its full capability, and Denki's shock messed with my head a bit. Electrical shocks don't affect me like most people, but it will bring back some painful memories for me." Cleo explained.

Before Izuku's mom could say something, Cleo's phone started to ring.

She didn't recognize the number, but answered it. "Hello?"

"... hey." Katsuki said on the other end.

"You okay?" Cleo asked.

"Can we talk?"

Cleo turned to her hosts, "Is there somewhere I can talk alone?"

"You can go to Izuku's bedroom."

"Thank you." Cleo said with a small bow, and took her cup and half eaten cookie with her. She went over to Izuku's room and closed the door. "What's up?"

Katsuki let out a shaky sigh.

"I just got to my mom's. She had a huge fit. There was a fight between my parents." Katsuki summarized.

"Don't your parents argue all the time?" Cleo asked.

"Not like this. This, just… mom had a lot to drink. She brought one of her friends, who was also a drunk mess, who was loud and punched Kori in the face. I went with mom to make them shut up."

His voice was shaky.

"I'm sorry, Katsuki." Cleo said in a low voice.

"How's it going at Deku's?"

"His mom is a sweetheart. She made us cookies and hot chocolate." Cleo said.

"Sounds dumb." He commented.

"... it's as nice change of pace. I'm still grateful that Izuku's mom picked me up. Seeing the Demon King scared the shit out of me. If he'd been two seconds later, I'd be dead right now." Cleo told him.

"You saw the fucking Demon King again?" Katsuki asked.

"Yeah. He's having some kind of fight with my mom. She wants me dead, so saving my life was his way of pissing off my mom."

"That's messed up."

"Yeah."

9.

Sunday, 5:30 AM

Cleo didn't get much sleep that night.

She kept having nightmares.

She went to the living room, sat cross-legged, and took deep breaths. When she couldn't sleep, calming meditation was always a good second.

The home smelled faintly of cinnamon and nutmeg.

The temperature was warm and cozy.

Her hosts were much too kind. Too nice.

Seeing that such truly kind people existed always startled her a little. It ignited something inside her, an urge to protect such a rare and pure thing.

When she heard movement, she looked up, surprised to see Izuku walk out. His hair was in disarray, bags were under his eyes, and he still wore the All Might pajamas from the previous night.

"Did I wake you?" Cleo asked.

"I've been awake for most of the night. I keep thinking about class B." Izuku said, and she nodded in understanding. "Would you like some tea?"

"I'd love some." Cleo replied.

He nodded and tiredly moved to the kitchen. A few minutes later, he reemerged wielding two steaming mugs, and handed her one.

"Oh, I should have asked if you like ginger tea. I'm sorry." Izuku said, his eyes going wide in alarm.

"It's fine, I love ginger, so it works out." Cleo said with a reassuring smile.

"... so, what kind of meditations do you do?" Izuku inquired as he sat near her. He brought the warm tea to her face, inhaling the hot aroma.

"I cycle through a few different ones. Do you do any meditations?" Cleo asked.

"No… can I ask you something personal?" Izuku asked.

"I guess, but I don't promise to answer." Cleo said with a smile.

"Why do you act so happy all the time? Like you enjoy being around people?" Izuku asked, and her smile faltered.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Ka-chan don't like people, he's just more honest and upfront about it. Even though you hate spending time with our classmates, you do it anyway, and always smile." Izuku commented.

"What makes you think that I don't enjoy our classmates?" Cleo asked.

"I noticed that Ka-chan will sometimes scare people off when you don't feel like being around them, and that when you're alone with him, you have a different smile. When I started to really think about it, you're not exactly normal when you interact with people. You're almost never sad, or melancholy, or upset around people, you're always smiling. Even when they're being obnoxious, you always smile. Even when people do something that makes you upset, you always smile. During the virus outbreak you showed your true emotions a few times, but even then, you collected yourself really quickly in order to accomplish certain things." Izuku explained.

… she'd underestimated just how observant he was.

"I guess… I don't really get it. It seems like a lot of effort to get people to like you, and I don't understand how you can smile all the time. I've tried to do it, like how All Might does it, but it's hard. It seems like second nature to you." Izuku spoke.

_Ah. He was looking for it because of All Might._

_He's not quite as ignorant as I thought. Still ignorant to some aspects of the world, but not as much as I thought._

"... have you heard of the Harvester?" Cleo asked.

"The one who attacked you at the hospital?" Izuku asked, and she nodded.

"When I was little, he would sneak into my room. I would scream, tell my mother that there was a monster in my room, but she didn't believe me. She put a shock collar on me to keep me from screaming and waking her up again." Cleo said, and his eyes went wide in alarm. "The Harvester would come back, and when I screamed, I was shocked. He would burn me, over and over again, and I had to stay completely silent. When I smiled, he wouldn't burn me as much. Since then, I've found that smiling keeps people docile. It makes them less threatening because they don't perceive me as a threat."

"That's… I'm so sorry, Cleo. I had no idea." Izuku said in a low voice.

"It's a useful skill I gained, but it does frighten medical staff and teachers. Someone with second and third degree burns covering 60% of their body should be screaming in pain, not smiling calmly. It's why Denki's shock made my quirk more difficult to use; because it set me in the mindset of how I was as a child. I wasn't allowed to use the full extent of my quirk." Cleo added.

"... so… when you're smiling and being nice to people, it's because you're afraid of them?" Izuku asked.

"Terrified." Cleo said with her smile. "It's also just habit. No matter how I'm feeling, I can always put up a smile. In fact, it's why most of the teachers are so impressed by me, and might even be why they're so supportive of me being at UA. In the most stressful situations, I can keep a calm head and smile."

"... but then… Ka-chan nearly killed you and Eijriou the other day, and you like being around him." Izuku commented.

"I don't have to smile around him. I don't have to be nice. I can be myself around him." Cleo explained.

"You don't have to put on a front with me. You don't have anything to fear from me." Izuku said.

"But I do. You're going to be a hero someday and our classmates look up to you. Acting rude with Katsuki doesn't lose me anything, but being rude to you, would. Everyone in our class is going to be a pro in the near future, and I can't afford to give a negative impression to them. I especially can't afford a negative impression with the teachers. All Might has been my best ally in the last few weeks, and he adores you. Not to mention your mother; she was kind enough to pick me up yesterday when I had no one else to call." Cleo explained.

"... do you consider all of these things when you interact with everyone? View them in terms of what they're worth, their associations to useful people, and interact with them according to that?" Izuku asked.

"It's a little of the opposite. I interact with people with the assumption that they're a high profile person who can benefit me, until I'm proven otherwise." Cleo corrected.

"That seems… sad." Izuku commented, and looked down at his tea.

Cleo took a sip of her drink.

She hated ginger.

"So you're not able to be honest with people? You're just bottling up your emotions, and never opening up to people?" Izuku asked.

"Yes. It's not an uncommon practice; most people do it all the time, to varying degrees. I just suspect that I do it more often than others." Cleo replied.

"So then… with what's been happening with your mom… are you okay?" He asked.

"No, but that's okay. I work, I train, I do my homework, go to class. I do what's expected of me. My feelings are irrelevant." Cleo said.

"Your feelings aren't irrelevant. They matter."

"And what would you do if I burst into tears right now? How would you feel?"

Izuku paused.

"You would be awkward and uncomfortable. No one likes to be around someone when they're upset. It's a natural reaction to strong emotions." Cleo explained.

"I don't care if it makes me awkward or uncomfortable. I'd rather you be honest and cry rather than smile and act like everything is okay, when it's not." Izuku told her.

"I appreciate it, Izuku, but I'll be fine, really."

"Tell me what you really think." He told her.

She paused.

"What do you really think of me?" He asked. "What do you think about what happened yesterday? With class B being taken? With you being stabbed?"

"... I have faith that our teachers will get them back." Cleo replied.

Guilt ripped at her chest.

If her mother gets a hold of them-

"You don't feel anything about being stabbed?" Izuku asked.

_Two seconds later and I would be dead._

"What about the fact that Ka-chan was almost killed?" Izuku asked, and she tensed. "That half the school could have been killed last night? That our fellow UA students are in hospital beds right now? That many of our comrades might have to leave school because their parents think it's too dangerous?"

Her eyes moved to her tea.

"... can we talk about something else?" Cleo asked.

He frowned, also moving his gaze to his tea.

They were quiet for a while.

"... I'm worried about them." He said in a soft voice. "I wish I could do more than just sit here."

She nodded, wishing that she could, too.

10.

Sunday, 9:30 AM

Both Cleo and Izuku were antsy over breakfast.

Izuku's mom tried to keep them distracted, talking about heroes or classes, but that usually led to an awkward silence. At the end of every awkward silence, Izuku's mom gave Cleo that look encouraging her to eat more food. She was really concerned about Cleo's eating habits.

And then, Cleo got a phone call.

"Cleo, this is Aizawa. We're having trouble locating class B, but we believe that your mom worked with the League of Villains to coordinate the attack. She may have taken them to one of her old work locations. Have you remembered anything in the last few weeks that could point us in a direction? Literally anything." Aizawa asked her, and she gulped down the lump in her throat.

She thought back to her mother. Her sister.

Her grandparents.

The monsters in the basement.

The sleeping people.

The burns.

"Cleo?"

"... I've already told you and the detectives everything…." Cleo said.

"Alright, then think, do you have any guesses as to where your mother would take them?" Aizawa asked.

She scraped at the edge of her mind, trying to think of a place she could have taken them.

"_Behave yourself, or else I'll send you to the dark place."_

When her mother threatened to beat her for misbehaving, she sometimes added in the threat of taking her to the "dark place," which is what Cleo called a place from one of the fables she told her as a child. It was where bad children went to be eaten.

But that didn't help.

That wasn't a real place, and even if it was, she had no idea where it would be.

"I don't know." Cleo replied.

"Think. You know her better than anyone." Aizawa insisted.

Cleo tried to think of places they frequented when she was younger. Maybe one of their trips was actually a work trip.

Her mother went on trips often, but rarely brought her with her.

_Places that have a bad vibe, maybe? Maybe I subconsciously caught onto something without realizing it?_

"What is it?" Izuku's mom asked.

"... Aizawa…" Cleo said in a soft voice.

"Give me the phone." Mrs. Midoria said, and took the phone from her. "Aizawa, this is Izuku's mother. Why does Cleo look mortified right now? What did you tell her?"

Cleo tried to ignore her and think back to her mother.

Those nightmares she thought were just bad dreams. The sleeping people in the basement.

She'd been so terrified of those sleeping people.

The fire man and the sleeping people.

_Who were those sleeping people?_

… _were they really sleeping?_

"She's fourteen years old and has already been traumatized. Unless you have better news to bring, don't call her." Mrs. Midoria said, and hung up. She set the phone in front of Cleo on the table.

"Are you okay, Cleo?" Izuku asked.

"I'm fine, just startled." Cleo said with her usual smile. "Sorry if I worried you."

He frowned, probably recalling their earlier conversation.

"What's happening is not your fault, do you understand?" Izuku's mother asked.

"Aizawa is just looking for any tips he can find. During the virus outbreak I helped a lot with the investigation. They used the information I gave to find an antidote. It makes sense that he'd call me again." Cleo explained.

"Still. It's a lot of pressure to put on you."

"Is it okay if I go for a walk?" Cleo asked.

"Why don't you have Izuku go with you?"

"I'd rather be alone, if that's okay?"

"I really don't think you should be alone after what happened. Izuku, go with Cleo."

She didn't seem to be budging on the issue.

Cleo nonetheless got her school jacket and shoes on. Izuku had let her borrow a t-shirt, since her own school shirt was bloody. Her jacket was, too, but it was less noticeable with the dark fabric.

Cleo was the first to walk out, and waved to Izuku's mother as they stepped outside. A slight breeze washed over them, sending a slight shiver up her spine, and she started walking towards the stairs.

"I know my mom is being a bit overprotective, but it's probably good that we stick close to each other." Izuku told her.

"Do you want to help class B?" Cleo asked, stopping on the steps to face him. He paused, barely stopping himself from walking into her.

"How?" Izuku asked.

"My mom is the one that took all of them. If we go to her house, maybe we can find a clue about where she took them. Most of it is burned down, but I think most of the basement is in tact. That's where she conducted business." Cleo explained.

"Won't it be roped off or something?" Izuku asked.

"If there are people guarding it or whatever, then we'll leave. If it's open, we'll check it out. What do we have to lose by trying?" Cleo asked.

The only reason she hadn't helped the others rescue Katsuki from the villains before was because she'd been injured too heavily.

"We should call our classmates. They might be able to help." Izuku said.

"We can call them on the way. If they're interested, we'll tell them the address. Every minute we waste, the more danger our comrades are in." Cleo said, and Izuku nodded.

Her house was a little far, but they both walked quickly down the streets. Chills kept running up and down her body, and she shivered, despite moving around so much. Her arm was still in the sling, unfortunately, meaning that if they were attacked, she would be at a disadvantage.

She needed to do everything in her power to save them.

Izuku was the one to make the calls. Most of them went to voicemail; he was smart enough to not leave incriminating evidence.

She handed Izuku her phone to call Katsuki.

When they reached her house, they found the house in the state she had expected. There was some tape around the house, but no patrol cars or policemen. Just the burned down house and quaint neighborhood going about their morning.

She shivered against the cold.

Seeing her house… the one she'd grown up in….

The roof had melted into a slope, caving into the black charred structure. There were blackened support beams still standing, but the two story house had mostly collapsed. Most of the second story seemed to be gone.

"Are you cold, Cleo?" Izuku asked.

"Let's go." Cleo said suddenly, and looked both ways before crossing the street.

"Aren't we going to wait for the others?"

"We'll just get a head start. There's so much damage that there's a chance we won't be able to get inside the basement, and all of this will have been for nothing." Cleo said as she walked, and noticed how black and barren the yard was.

The tree in front, that she had climbed so many times, had turned completely black. All of the leaves and blossoms were gone.

Her mother's garden had been trampled into the mud.

She walked around to the side, to the backyard. There hadn't been quite as much damage in the back of the house, with pieces of the yellow painted wood remaining, but the windows were gone and debris covered the lawn.

"We need to be careful. It doesn't look structurally sound." Izuku said.

"You should stay out here for when our classmates get here. I'll head inside first." Cleo said.

"No, you're not going in there alone." Izuku said as he followed her.

She went in through a large hole in the wall, one that the firefighters had clearly used, judging by the boot prints. As she did so, she was slow, looking around her, and noticed that the entire second floor of this part of the house was gone.

… she was standing in what used to be her kitchen.

Her home was dead.

"Is that the door to the basement?" Izuku asked, pointing to a dark rectangle across the room. There used to be a door there, a green one with the lower half covered in her flower stickers.

"... yeah." Cleo replied.

Izuku walked ahead first, slow and cautious, and kept looking up, in case something started to shift and threaten to fall.

Cleo wondered how well her stumps would protect her from a house falling on her.

As they descended the dark steps of the deadly room, a cool air started to creep up on them. The breeze was stale, reminiscent of dirt and smoke.

When they got down there, they found that it was surprisingly empty.

All the shelves, boxes, and other storage had been removed.

"The police probably took everything for evidence." Cleo said.

Something creaked from the top of the steps, and they both turned, startled by the dark figure at the top of the steps.

"Couldn't wait for two fucking minutes? Idiots." Katsuki muttered, and started walking down the steps towards them. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and his tired red eyes locked onto Cleo.

Cleo took the last few steps to the basement floor, still shivering, and looked around, recalling her nightmares of this room.

She remembered the sleeping people.

The fire man.

The monsters.

When she was little, she once stayed up past bedtime and hid behind the stairs with a flashlight. She turned the flashlight off, sat down, and waited.

She remembered being terrified.

She chalked it up to nightmares and never thought about it again.

Cleo jumped, feeling something warm across her back, and realized that Katsuki had put a jacket over her shoulders.

"So what the hell are we looking for?" Katsuki asked as he looked around the room.

"Anything that the detectives might have missed." Izuku answered, looking around the room, and then seemed to notice the exchange in jacket.

His surprised face turned to Katsuki, who sent him a nasty glare in turn.

"I'm surprised that there's no doorway in here." Cleo commented, and they both looked her way. "When I was little, I heard sounds from down here. Sometimes I found sleeping people down here. My mom said it was just nightmares, but since she did human trafficking, I'm inclined to think they may have been real. Since it took so long for my family to get caught, I doubt she used the front door to move people."

"But if Aizawa and the others couldn't find a door, then I doubt there is one. And if we start hitting walls, we risk the room collapsing." Izuku pointed out.

"It also could have actually been nightmares. Bringing the people she was trafficking to her house sounds like a dumb move." Katsuki added.

"There used to be a lot of stuff in here, and last time they were here was during the virus outbreak. They were probably really rushed, and could have missed something." Cleo argued, and looked around the room again.

The walls were cement and bare. The shelves around the room were empty.

"Is anyone else coming?" Katsuki asked, turning to Izuku.

"Ochaco said that she'd try to make it, and so did Tenya, but their parents are still shaken from what happened and are keeping a close eye on them." Izuku replied.

Cleo tried to remember where she saw the monsters come in from.

She walked over to behind the stairs, where she hid that one time, and tried to remember.

She looked around the room, ignoring Izuku and Katsuki's questioning stares.

There had to be something here.

She crouched down, closer to what her height would have been, and felt that terror from that night.

The room had been dark, almost pitch black. The only light was from under the door at the top of the steps.

As she stared into the darkness, something in the wall moved.

She froze in fear.

It moved again.

It definitely wasn't a rat.

A distorted white figure slowly crawled out of the wall, their joints messed up, their eyes dark, and hair a strange yellow ash. There was a strange mark on their face.

_But that could have been a nightmare._ Cleo thought with a frown.

"I have a memory of something crawling out of that wall." Cleo said, and sighed. "But like Katsuki said, it could have been a dream. Fuck my life."

"There could be a tunnel on the other side of this wall, and someone used a quirk to let people move through it. Did any of your mom's coworkers have an ability like that?" Izuku asked.

"... I have no idea." Cleo replied.

Izuku started knocking against the walls, slowly moving across the gray surface, and paused when he got to the spot she had seen the monsters emerge. He knocked again, this time, a little more forcefully.

It sounded hollow.

Izuku flattened his hand against the cement, feeling along the wall for a crack, for a door.

She was pretty sure that he'd been right about the quirk, though. It made more sense to hire someone to make the wall disappear at will than create a door that investigators could get into.

… which meant that there was something important in there.

"Anyone know of a good way to get inside that won't drop the house on us?" Cleo asked.

"Using a sledge hammer might do the trick. It would probably be more safe than explosions." Izuku said, but then frowned. "But maybe we shouldn't go in there. It might be booby trapped, and after that virus, we might not want to risk exposing ourselves."

"Assuming they didn't take everything in the shed, there's a sledge hammer and five gas masks in there." Cleo said.

"How did you not know she wasn't a villain if she has random gas masks in the shed? Who does that?" Katsuki asked.

"Who doesn't know that their parents are fucking gay?" Cleo countered.

His jaw tightened, but he didn't reply.

"Hopefully Ochaco gets here soon. Her parents are in construction, so she might be able to help." Izuku said.

"Give her a call while we're getting supplies from the shed." Cleo said, and nodded for Katsuki to follow her upstairs.

11.

Sunday, 12:30 PM

For hours, they took turns using the sledgehammer and chipping away at the concrete.

Cleo tried to use the sledge hammer, being much to thrilled to vent some of her frustration, but she needed two hands, and her shoulder started bleeding out soon after. Katsuki and Izuku had to take over.

Eventually, they managed to make a small hole about the size of their fist.

Cleo used the flashlight app on her phone to peer inside the darkness.

To her extreme disappointment, they had just tunneled into another room. Nothing inside, no objects of interest, no clues.

"Fuck." Cleo cursed as she moved away.

"Another room? How many walls are there in this dumb tunnel?" Katsuki asked.

"Probably a lot. There's no telling how many walls we'd have to break in order to see what's down here." Izuku said, and turned to look at Cleo. "I hate to say it, but I think we should call Aizawa. If we do anything else we could get into serious trouble."

"We'll already be in trouble for damaging a crime scene." Katsuki said.

"I have an idea." Cleo said tiredly, and felt light-headed as she pulled up Aizawa's number.

"Let's go outside and put these away before you make the call. We should leave in case someone comes by." Izuku suggested.

Cleo tiredly agreed, and Katsuki simply followed them as they left.

Katsuki had been surprisingly quiet and agreeable.

Once the supplies were put away and they were over a block away, Cleo called their teacher. She asked him if he'd investigated possible tunnels leading into the basement, and emphasized the "nightmares" she'd had as a kid.

"There's a closed off tunnel leading to the basement that they probably used to transport people, and we believe that someone used a quirk to move through them. There are fifty cement walls through the tunnel leading to a different house three blocks away." Aizawa said.

Cleo mentally cursed, stopping in her tracks.

It had been a complete waste of time.

"I'm sorry for being so insistent earlier, Cleo. I was under a lot of pressure, and you act so mature sometimes, that I forget you're still a kid. You've been through a lot and I know that if you thought of something important, you would have told me." Aizawa apologized.

"Let me know if anything changes, or if I can help in any other way." Cleo replied, and didn't wait for a response before hanging up.

"What did he say?" Izuku asked.

"That I wasted our time. I'm sorry." Cleo apologized.

"I preferred doing something to nothing at all. Even though it didn't pan out, it doesn't mean that it was a waste." Izuku argued.

"Any other ideas?" Katsuki asked.

"No." Cleo replied.

"Then let's get some food, I'm starving." Katsuki said.

"We can go to my house. My mom texted me a while ago that she made food, and that she'd keep it warm for us." Izuku said.

12.

Sunday, 1:00 PM

As soon as they walked in the door, Izuku's mom's eyes went wide in horror, and focused on Cleo's shoulder.

"What happened? Were you attacked again?" She asked as she came forward, and squished Cleo's face with her hands.

"No, w-we weren't attacked! Her injury from yesterday must have opened up while we were walking." Izuku stuttered quickly.

"I don't even feel it, really. It's probably a shallow opening." Cleo said with her usual smile, and glanced over when she saw Katsuki make a face. He was frowning and looking down at the shoulder of his jacket. She'd bled on it.

"I have bandages in the bathroom. You boys can start eating while we get Cleo cleaned up." Izuku's mom said, quickly ushering Cleo to the bathroom.

Cleo knew that nothing she could say would assuage the mother's fears. Instead of comforting her, while Izuku's mom got out the bandages, Cleo took her jacket off, and took off Izuku's shirt.

"I'm sorry for staining Izuku's shirt, Mrs. Midoria." Cleo said.

"Call me Inko, Cleo, and don't worry about the shirt. Do you need a pain killer?" Inko asked.

"No, I'm fine." Cleo said, and Inko frowned at her.

If Cleo was honest, she enjoyed the pain in her shoulder. It made her feel a little less guilty about the missing students her mother had taken. Focusing on that pain took away some of the stress that would otherwise be on finding those kids, wherever the hell they are.

Cleo had been apprised of what her mother did to people.

She knew what was in store if they didn't get to them in time.

Inko pulled up a small stool next to Cleo, who sat on the toilet seat. She had a damp rag to clean up some of the blood that was dripping down Cleo's arm. Slowly, she pulled back the bandages, and put them in the garbage bin.

"Sweetie, how many stitches did you get?" Inko asked.

"Four. It wasn't that bad, I've had worse." Cleo said calmly, and didn't wince as Inko started to clean up the wound.

"Like when Katsuki burned you? Is that where those scars are from?" Inko asked, referring to her abdomen.

"No, those scars are from something else. I've already fully healed from my fight with Katsuki." Cleo said.

"I'm worried about you, Cleo." Inko admitted. "Are you one of those people that can't feel pain?"

"No, I can feel pain." Cleo said.

"Then why are you so calm right now? I cry when I get a papercut." Inko said as she cleaned around the wound. It seemed to have stopped bleeding.

"Part of being a hero is being able to smile, even if you're in pain. Besides, it's a lot less productive to start crying and screaming during an injury than smile and calmly explain to people what's going on." Cleo said, and breathed, feeling light-headed again.

"What's wrong?" Inko asked.

"I'm just a little light-headed. Once I get food, I should be fine." Cleo said.

"I'll make an appointment with your doctor while you're eating. Don't worry about it." Inko stated.

They were quiet for a while as Inko slowly worked. She checked with Cleo frequently, asking if she was in pain, and Cleo replied that she was fine. She helped her get another shirt on and put away the supplies.

"Did your mother ever talk to you about boys?" Inko suddenly asked, and Cleo's cheeks turned pink.

"W-what about them?" Cleo asked.

"Dating. Sex."

Cleo's cheeks heated up further, and she looked away.

"My friend's parents gave me a talk when I was younger. They explained everything to me. My sister added a few things." Cleo said awkwardly.

"If Bakugou tries to push you into anything you don't want to do, kick him in the crotch and call me. I'll straighten him out." Inko said with a straight face.

Cleo had never felt more embarrassed in her life.

"If you're too embarrassed to call me, go to my son. He'll look after you." Inko said with a confident nod.

_I'm pretty sure that Katsuki used to pummel Izuku on a regular basis…._

"Let's get you some food." Inko suddenly said with a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

**Cleo 9**

_Venting Frustrations_

Tuesday, 1:00 PM

Three days went by, and in that time period, the authorities found class B.

They were safe. Traumatized, but safe.

A lot of students would be transferring.

They fixed the dorms well enough for students to return. Most of their belongings were salvageable.

Cleo was officially re-enrolled at the school.

She was still unbelievably frustrated and annoyed by everything that happened, though. She'd been completely useless, even having to be saved by her villain of a father.

She wondered if she would be a factor in any of his future plans. Had he saved her to piss off her mother, like he claimed, or was there a shred of humanity left in him?

Katsuki came to her room, under the guise that they would be working on his costume design.

She pulled him in for a rough kiss, hard and passionate, not soft and gentle, like before.

He pulled at her in return, bruising her lips with the force, and grabbed hold of her hips.

1.

Tuesday, 10:30 PM

As the weeks went by, things started to slowly get back to normal at UA.

Classes went on as usual.

Training went on as usual.

The difference now, though, was that more people knew of Cleo and hated her. More of the student body sent her dirty looks, whispered behind her back, and sometimes said things directly to her. They thought that she had helped the League of Villains, and her mother, attack the school and take class B.

She couldn't blame them for the assumption.

That didn't make things easier.

Mirio, she learned, had been asked by All Might to check in on her during her night shifts. Unfortunately, his schedule got so messed up that he couldn't come in during that hour anymore. Mirio spoke to her directly about his change in schedule, sounding extremely genuine in his apology and explanation, and assured her that it wasn't personal. He was even willing to occasionally train with her outside of her night shifts, if she was interested.

She believed him in his explanation, and took him up on the offer. They would meet once a week to do weight lifting and talk.

He was much more genuine than most people were. He and Katsuki were the few people she genuinely enjoyed being around.

Mirio listened when she talked.

Now, as she did her usual nightshift, Katsuki was the only one in the room. Everyone else avoided the gym at this late hour, which meant that all she had to do was clean up and sit around for the remaining time. Some days the clean up was extensive, other days, not as much.

Her feet were propped up on the desk, her stumps lifting weights behind her, and phone on her lap.

Katsuki quietly lifted a dumbbell on the other side of the room.

"My dad invited you and Aizawa to dinner. It's tomorrow night." Katsuki said randomly, and causing her to look up at him.

He avoided her gaze.

"Did Aizawa accept?" Cleo asked.

"Yep."

"... does your dad know about us?" Cleo asked.

"Considering that I kissed you in front of him, I'm guessing that he has a clue."

"When did that happen?" Cleo asked in alarm.

"During the attack. We were in the cafeteria." Katsuki replied curtly.

"... I don't remember that." Cleo said with a frown.

"It doesn't fucking matter if you remember. It happened."

"... so… should we be open about being together, then-?"

"No, of course not." He scoffed.

2.

Wednesday, 7:00 PM

The next night, Cleo, Aizawa, Katsuki, and their extra guest, All Might, stood in Mr. Bakugou's new living room.

Katsuki and his dad were getting into another heated argument.

Ever since he left his wife, he'd become much more outspoken and adamant about his positions.

As they argued, Cleo went over to the massive window on the side of the room. There were a few potted plants around the window, none of which she recognized, but had exotic colors and twisting living room was spacious, with vibrant reds and oranges, and large decadent rug in the center of the room. Most of the guests and hosts sat on the large bright red couches.

Rain streamed down the window.

She couldn't see much of the street. They didn't have a yard, and they lived in part of the city. Crime was high around here. They lived on the first floor of the small building, and had neighbors above them that occasionally stomped or made a loud sound.

Cleo leaned against the window frame, letting her smile briefly disappear. She studied the stream of water, letting her mind wander into a meditative state.

The Bakugous were so loud.

So much arguing.

Katsuki and Cleo had their moments, when they snapped and hit each other, pushing their internal frustrations out on each other, but they never had the luxury of an all out argument like this. Living at the dorms meant that they had to be sneaky. Since Cleo had an entire floor to herself, they could get away with hushed arguments, but nothing like what Katsuki was doing now.

Cleo put her hands in her pockets, focusing on the rain, and discretely pressed down on a bruise on her thigh.

Slight relief washed over her.

She'd found that pain was a good way to relieve stress. Having her mind focus on physical pain rather than emotional pain was relaxing.

3.

As her dreams tended to do lately, Cleo found herself in the basement.

The sleeping people were here.

They were on gourneys. White sheets over their deathly still bodies.

Chills kept running up her spine.

Fear over the shifting shadows.

She reached for one of the bodies, grasping at the sheet, to pull and see who was there.

Their hand reached out, grabbing her wrist, and she awoke with a jolt.

Cleo sat up in a cold sweat, looking around her room, and saw that light was streaming through her closed blinds.

Her bed was empty.

She shuddered out a shaky breath, bringing her head into her hands, and realized that her cheeks were wet.

4.

Thursday, 8:30 AM

She noticed the usual glares on her way to class.

They weren't new.

When she got to class, however, Sue pointed to her hair.

Cleo reached up, feeling her braided locks, and frowned at the discovery. Someone put gum in her hair.

"I'll help you, Cleo. Let's go to the bathroom." Sue suggested.

"Thank you." Cleo said awkwardly, and followed her.

As they walked into the hall, a few people laughed and pointed. Probably the ones that had been behind it.

"You would think that hero students would know better than to bully girls." Sue said pointedly as they walked, and the group awkwardly stopped laughing.

"Her mom is a villain. She has no business being a hero." The one in front said.

"Neither do bullies." Sue said pointedly.

They rolled their eyes and walked off.

Sue sent her an awkward smile.

"That wasn't necessary, but thank you, Sue." Cleo said.

"Don't mention it. Don't let them get you down, Cleo." Sue said with a smile.

Even though Sue was being supportive, Cleo knew that she was nervous around her.

Not only was Cleo the daughter of a notorious villain for the League of Villains, but she was strong, too. Cleo had been a bit more open about her strength in recent training sessions during class; she and Katsuki had started pairing up, and they weren't gentle.

5.

Thursday, 9:10 AM

Once the class started, everyone was excited to see a stack of folders on the teacher's desk.

They were getting their grades back for their big assignment, which involved writing a detailed plan on how, if they were a bank robber, would go about the process. The project required multiple sources from real life bank robberies, how the heroes dealt with those situations, how to get around those in their own plans, and other sources of inspiration.

For the assignment, they were allowed two co-robbers, any supplies they wanted (they had to include how they would carry the equipment), their plan, their set up, and other details. They were given information about the guards who would be working, the number of people inside, and their security system.

Cleo got a little too invested in the project. Her plan was detailed and gory.

To her relief, most of the class had gotten invested in the project, too. They helped each other hash out details of their plans, run through the scenarios, and other helpful tasks. Cleo was one of the few that didn't share details of her plan.

They already feared her, to some extent, and she didn't need to confirm those fears by letting them peak into her mind.

"I was impressed by some of the robbery plans that you came up with; however, many of you had the problem of assuming that the heroes coming to stop you were people with quirks like your classmates. In the real world, you would have a little control over which heroes would respond, assuming you had their schedules, but there are always heroes off duty that can react in situations like this.

"Today, we're going to be acting out three of these projects."

"Eh?" Cleo blurted.

"I've chosen Bacchus, Iida, and Midoria's. Each of them will choose two people to be their co-robbers, and then four people will act as a hero in response each time. For the people whose scenarios were chosen, you will be graded on your execution of your plan. For the people playing heroes, you'll be graded on how you respond to the situation. For each person that dies, you lose points." Aizawa explained, and Cleo briefly sulked in her seat.

She raised her hand.

"Is it like the exam where you lose points but can't gain them back?" Cleo asked.

"No. You're graded on overall response to the situation and execution of plans." Aizawa said.

"What if something goes wrong that we didn't expect?" Tenya asked.

"Then you'll be graded on how you respond to it." Aizawa replied.

_Everyone is going to hate me after this._ Cleo thought miserably.

"We'll be watching each other through video cameras, and everyone will be providing feedback. All of the hostages will be teachers. For the intent of this exercise, they will all be quirkless." Aizawa added.

6.

Thursday, 10:30 AM

Cleo cursed again.

People were going to hate her.

Mezo and Fumikage were nearby, reading over her plan. She'd chosen them as her co-robbers.

She sat on one of the boxes around her, with her legs crossed beneath her and cheek in her hand. She was going over her robbery plan.

She got a 100%, at least. No one else got a perfect score.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that we were going to act this out. Anyone that does this scenario will lose points." Cleo apologized again.

"It's fine." Fumikage said distractedly.

"I feel bad for whoever has to be a hero in this one. They're not going to win." Mezo said.

Cleo groaned again.

"You took inspiration from the Slithers, right?" Fumikage asked passively.

"Yeah. They're the most successful bank robbers in Japan right now. It made sense." Cleo said.

"I only avoided them because of the virus thing. A lot of people died from that." Mezo commented.

"They're brutal and effective. They don't care who they kill in order to reach their goal, which makes them a true villainous group. If we were stealing money and no one got hurt, that wouldn't be villainous, just risky and desperate." Cleo said.

"I've never used most of this equipment before." Fumikage said, and added, "I have no idea how they work."

"I'll show you. Everything has been modified to be non-lethal. All the guns have paintballs in them and the knives replaced with rubber, so even if we mess up, no one will actually die." Cleo explained, and hopped off of the box, beginning to explain the situation to them.

7.

Thursday, 10:30 AM

Katsuki was a little uneasy.

He was in the group who would be going against Cleo.

She had a dark mind, and researched her mother a lot. Judging by her reaction, this wasn't going to be a cheesy bank robbery to foil, like Tenya's.

According to the teacher, he chose the projects based on how feasible they were to carry out, the likelihood of success, and the varied styles of execution. None of them were similar.

While the robbers left the classroom to get acquainted with supplies, students were assigned to each robbery, and given a summary of the scenario they'd be walking into.

Katsuki, Eijirou, Toru, and Kyouka were pro heroes called to the bank. There were barricades outside, set up by the villains with the words "VILLAINS INSIDE: DO NOT ENTER". There were multiple hostages inside, at least five, and the windows were covered so that they couldn't see inside. They had no idea what group was doing the robbery, but they guessed they were affiliated with the Slithers, based on how they blacked out the windows.

When the police called the people inside, they said that they would only talk to heroes.

The students looked at the various scenarios. Iida's looked the most straight forward out of the robberies, and while Deku's also looked simple, most people knew that it would be more complex. Deku never did things the easy way.

"Any ideas on what to expect?" Eijirou asked as their group came together.

"If she's modeling after the Slithers, then she's going to kill most of the hostages." Kyouka said.

"Knowing Cleo, she's planning to have all the hostages killed. We'll have to be fast." Katsuki said.

"I can sneak in first, see what we're dealing with, and then relay it back to you guys. Kyouka can hide and use her quirk to listen to them." Toru suggested.

8.

Thursday, 12:30 PM

The clock started.

The trio walked down the street, to the bank. Mezo set up the barricades in front, while Fumikage and Cleo walked in.

The guards were manikins. She shot both of them in the head with her handgun, which had paint balls in them. Both fell to the ground with pink and green paint on their faces.

"Everyone freeze in place! This is a robbery! Do as we say and you won't end up dead!" Cleo yelled in the spacious room. The room echoed her words slightly.

One of the people near her moved (All Might in his smaller form), running for the door.

She shot them in the head.

They fell over, playing dead.

"Thank you for being my example. Everyone calmly make your way to the right side of the room. Nightcrawler, start on the safe while I get our guests set up for the main event." Cleo said, and started pulling out supplies from her bag.

Mezo soon came in and got started on the rest.

9.

Thursday, 12:40 PM

The small group of heroes arrived at the scene.

Toru and Kyouka got close to the building. Toru tried to peak inside, while Kyouka listened.

Katsuki was the one to take the phone from the policeman cardboard cut out.

"HAND OVER THE HOSTAGES AND DIE!" Katsuki yelled into the phone, and Eijirou quickly took it away from him.

"We have you surrounded, there's nowhere for you to run. Release the hostages." Eijirou said in a calm, commanding voice, and Katsuki glared at him.

"Who am I speaking to?" Cleo asked. The phone was loud enough for Katsuki to hear.

"Eijirou." Eijirou responded.

"Eijirou, eh? Giving me your first name instead of your hero name. That's very bold of you." Cleo commented, and Eijirou flinched at the mistake. "But I feel like I'm already close to you, Eijirou. That's a very masculine name. I've heard about how strong you are in the news. You've taken down a lot of powerful villains. You're a very smart and capable hero."

Eijirou seemed confused, and Katsuki rolled his eyes.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement, Eijirou. You sound like a very reasonable and level-headed person. I respect that in a hero." Cleo spoke.

Katsuki took the phone back. He knew what she was doing.

"Either hand over the hostages or we're blasting our way inside!" Katsuki yelled.

"That's not necessary. Come inside, young hero." Cleo said. Both heroes exchanged a confused look, and turned to the bank, whose doors were opening up, seemingly on their own.

Inside, they could see three people standing on flimsy stools with nooses around their necks. There was duct tape over their mouths and fear in their eyes.

"Give the phone back to Eijirou. I enjoyed-" Cleo started to say, but he hung up.

"Dude, she sounded willing to talk. We should have at least tried a peaceful negotiation." Eijriou whined, and Katsuki scoffed.

"She's playing you, moron." Katsuki said before running over to the doors. Kyouka, Toru, and Eijirou all followed, but then stopped in the doorway.

There was a podium in front of them, with a sign saying "CAUTION: MOTION ACTIVATED TRIGGERS ON SQUARE BLOCKS." Behind the podium, and between the hostages, there was a massive blanket with black and white squares on it on the ground.

"Solve the riddle and save the hostages. For each failed attempt, a hero and hostage die. After five minutes, they all die. Solve the two riddles and I'll hand myself over to the police." Eijirou read.

"She's just buying time to escape out the back. You losers deal with the hostages and I'll go stop them." Katsuki said, and blasted over the black and white blanket, unto the solid linoleum ground.

Before he could run, something smacked the right side of his face, and he cried out in surprise.

"Bakugou is dead. Bakugou, please lay down and pretend to be dead." Aizawa said through the speakers.

"WHAT!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Katsuki yelled angrily.

"How did he die?!" Eijirou asked in alarm.

"He was shot in the head. That's all you know." Aizawa replied.

"FUUUUCK!" Katsuki yelled in rage, and angrily sat down.

"Whenever someone dies, they have to be quiet and not move." Aizawa added.

"How did he die so quickly!?" Toru asked in alarm.

Katsuki looked around him, and saw what appeared to be a small cylindrical device attached to the ground. He guessed, based on the trajectory, that that's what shot him.

_How did it get such a precise shot, though?_ Katsuki wondered, and then realized that his head was wet. He pulled his glove off and reached for his hair, frowning when he realized that some kind of goo was inside.

With an angry growl, he turned back to his team, watching as Eijirou reread the dumb riddle over and over again.

"Okay, I think that we need to just step on the black squares." Eijirou said confidently.

"It's talking about monkeys and bananas. How does that relate to the squares?" Kyouka asked.

"There's an old nursery rhyme that likens bananas to black boxes. I'm sure of it." Eijirou said confidently.

He walked over to one of the black squares, and glanced at Katsuki, who was glaring daggers at him.

Eijirou took a deep breath, and stepped on one of the black squares.

He paused, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

Then, he carefully stepped onto another black square.

"Ow!" Toru cried out, being hit in the shoulder with a pink paint ball, and then the neck and face. "Am I dead!?"

"Hagakure is dead." Aizawa announced.

"How did I get it wrong!? Shit!" Eijirou yelled and cursed, and turned just as one of the teachers fell.

The blades on the nooses were fake, and the stools were short enough that when they dropped, the teacher just touched down. For the purpose of the exercise, they pretended to be dead, tilting their head to the side and sticking out their tongue.

"One of the hostages is now dead." Aizawa announced.

"Shit!" Eijirou yelled again.

"Go back to the beginning, Eijirou." A voice said, and Katsuki looked up, seeing Cleo standing near the hostages. She was dressed completely in black. Even her face was covered. "You did a good job figuring out the first part of the riddle! Now, you need to figure out the second one."

"The second riddle? Where is the second riddle?" Eijirou asked.

"I've already given it to you. A capable hero, such as yourself, should have no problem figuring it out. Unless you actually want all of these people to die." Cleo said.

Eijirou clenched his fists, his body tensing.

He went back to the beginning.

"And what is your name, other hero?" Cleo asked in a deceptively calm and casual voice.

"My name is Earjack, and you won't get away with what you've done!" Kyouka yelled.

"I'm simply robbing a bank, and I've been kind enough to give you an opportunity to catch me. You can even save the rest of the hostages. I simply set the stage, but you heroes have been making all the moves. You're both in control right now." Cleo told them.

"That's not true! If we were in control, those people wouldn't be dead!" Kyouka yelled.

"The answer is right in front of your nose. I've given you all the clues and tools you need to succeed, you're just willfully ignoring them. It's almost as if you want everyone to die." Cleo commented.

"Of course not!" Kyouka yelled.

Eijirou went back to look at the riddle on the podium.

"Then why did you let them die? You're no better than me, a villain. I may take a few bags of money, but you're taking lives right now. That young hero shot down will never get married and have a family. That hostage will never say 'I love you' or 'goodbye' to their loved ones again. Did you know that the hostage's name was Sakura? She was a single mother with two children. You've made orphans today with your decisions. Kyle, her three year old son, was going to have a birthday party this afternoon." Cleo told them.

"Bakugou made his decision to become a hero knowing the risks. That civilian, though… you're so cold." Kyouka said.

"You said his name was Bakugou? What was his first name?" Cleo asked.

"Why the fuck do you care!? You killed him!" Kyouka yelled.

"I care deeply for the lives of others. I've learned the names of every hostage here; Sakura, Hime, Touga, Murei, Hippa. In my short time with them, I've learned about them, which is more than I can say about you. I've killed no one today, you two have. You set off the traps. You gave the wrong answer to the riddles, and I didn't kill Bakugou. If you had held him back, he would still be alive." Cleo explained calmly.

Kyouka started crying.

"Kyouka, calm down. If we can figure out this riddle, we win." Eijirou told her.

"Don't you get it? There is no answer to the riddle! She's messing with us!" Kyouka yelled, and then sent her earjacks at Cleo while running onto the checkered blanket.

A paintball hit Kyouka's temple.

She stopped, muttering a curse under her breath, and crossed her arms as she sat down.

"Kyoka and one hostage have been killed." Aizawa announced.

"Have you figured out the answer to the riddle?" Cleo asked.

Eijirou gave her a serious look.

He didn't say anything for a moment.

"How many more hostages are there?" Eijirou asked.

Katsuki blinked.

He'd forgotten about the other two hostages.

Cleo nodded her head, and Katsuki looked over, finding two people bound together, covered in a blanket, and had a bomb attached.

"So if I fail the riddle, all three of them die?" Eijirou asked.

"Yes."

Eijirou was quiet again, looking around him.

"... you could have killed me before. You could have killed any of us when you wanted to." Eijirou commented.

"Only when you broke the rules." Cleo said.

"... so if I let you go, will you let the hostages go?" Eijirou asked.

Katsuki glared.

Having the bank robbery be successful automatically lost them 20 points. Each hostage death lost them 5 points. So far, they were negative thirty points, and Bakugou was killed so early on, that he probably wouldn't be able to make that up.

"I've attached bombs to all of the hostages, which can be activated by a remote trigger. Once me and my colleagues have successfully escaped, we'll be out of range for the detonation to take place." Cleo explained.

"Then go." Eijirou told her.

As the villains made their escape, Cleo paused by the door.

"You're making the right decision, Eijirou. You're a hero today." Cleo said, and then left.

10.

Thursday, 3:30 PM

After a day of playing villain and watching other people play out their scenarios, Cleo felt exhausted.

She had planned to go to her room and take a nap, but Eijirou caught her before they entered the dorms.

He wanted to talk to her. Alone.

They walked down a pathway, leading a little ways from the dorms, and gave them some privacy in the dense trees.

He was a lot more pensive and quiet than usual. Ever since the scenario, he hadn't said a word.

"I'm sorry about the robbery thing. I didn't know that we'd be playing it out in real life. Aizawa let me take a few things out to make it less intense." Cleo said.

"That was the watered down version?" He asked.

"Yeah." Cleo nodded.

There was an awkward pause.

Eijirou's hands were shoved into his pockets, and he kept looking around at the trees, lost in thought.

"The way you talked to me… that was what your mom was like, wasn't it?" Eijirou asked.

"Yeah. It was pretty cathartic to act it out, honestly. It was nice to not be on the receiving end." Cleo said.

"What did she make you do?" Eijirou asked.

"I'd rather not say." Cleo said.

"How did… how did you do what you did today? Everytime I think about it, my brain gets all jumbled. That riddle hurt my head." Eijirou asked.

"My mother would set me up for failure, blame me for failing, and use that to guilt me into doing other things. When I was little, I lost control of my quirk. I thought that I horribly disfigured her with my claws. She used that to guilt me into doing what she wanted. She always said that if I didn't do what she said, then I would become a villain.

"With you, I used your slip up of your name to my advantage. Using someone's first name always makes them feel closer to you. I used your first name repeatedly to gain your trust, emphasized what a great hero you were, and when someone died, blamed it on you. Everything you did was villainous, and everything I told you to do was heroic. When I only killed people in predictable ways, that created a sense of trust on your end. You trusted that I wouldn't kill the hostages unless _you_ broke the rules." Cleo explained.

"Was there any way for me to win?" Eijirou asked.

"If there had been more people on your team, maybe. There was only one motion sensing gun and one sniper. If you all had been fast, you could have saved the people hanging and taken us out. But that would be a gutsy move for a robbery you know nothing about." Cleo explained.

"... so Katsuki and Kyouya were right." Eijirou said.

"But they ended up dead. You lived, and your decision kept two hostages from dying." Cleo said.

"But that's not realistic, is it? In your original plan, did you let any of the hostages go?" Eijirou asked.

"... no, but I didn't want to completely mess up your grades."

Eijirou looked off into the distance again, contemplating it.

"I'm sorry that you had to live with that. What your mom did. I'm sorry that I've been kind of a shit head to you the last few weeks. You didn't deserve that." Eijirou apologized.

"Apology accepted." Cleo said with a smile.

11.

Thursday, 10:30 PM

That night, as usual, Cleo sat in her chair lifting weights while Katsuki did the same.

On Cleo's phone, there were articles about recent crime activity.

Both of her parents were making headlines.

Her grip on the phone tightened.

Her mother had made her a hero to serve her own needs, but Cleo wouldn't follow her orders.

Cleo would become a hero and take down both of her parents.

Even though she sometimes felt like she had no one, that everyone had left her, there were a few that kept reminding her that they were there, keeping her above the water.

She was learning how to swim.

One day, she'd swim to shore, and arrest her parents.

That was a promise.

**Author's Note:** Sorry if this ending felt a little abrupt. It just came to the natural end, and I couldn't think of anything else to write. I feel like I've exhausted this character and there's not much more to explore about her, at least not at this age. It was surprisingly difficult to write characters this age, which is why I age them up in my other stories. xD

Thank you for reading this far! Feel free to fave or review if you liked it! Have a wonderful day!


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